Minkabu the Infonoid Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Minkabu the Infonoid) operates one of Japan's largest financial information media outlets for investors, including "Minna no Kabushiki" and "Kabutan," which utilize AI and cloud input to provide unique financial information. By analyzing vast amounts of information using AI and other technologies, the company send high-quality financial information in real time, and continues to grow as a leading company in the financial and economic information field.
The company operates two businesses: financial media and solutions that provide data to corporations. It has recently decided to provide customized financial information to XNET Corporation's (hereinafter referred to as XNET) institutional investor services. In this case, it used HULFT to link with the database of a securities think tank, providing multifaceted information to end users and increasing the value of that information.
We spoke to the company, whose strength lies in providing accurate and prompt data, and which creates new value by linking various data.
Customer Issues
When developing a service that provides financial information, collaboration with other companies' databases was required.
Benefits of implementation
Utilizing HULFT,
Other company databases
Smooth connection
When data transfer fails
Retry processing etc.
Only by setting
Can handle
Further data integration and
Accumulation of past data, etc.
New initiatives
Realizing the foundation for advancing
Solutions business to focus on in conjunction with background media business
Yasushi Kashiwara, Executive Officer in charge of Solution Development
Minkabu the Infonoid's business can be broadly divided into two segments: media and solutions. The media business, centered around "Minna no Kabushiki" and "Kabutan," covers a wide range of information on finance and asset management, including stocks, virtual currencies, FX, commodity futures, investment trusts, insurance, and real estate. The solutions business takes the financial information handled by these media outlets and tailors it to each individual company. "For example, we provide information as content on the websites of online securities companies. In addition to developing the information we've cultivated in the media as solutions, we also gain a synergistic effect by feeding back the needs and requests we've gained from our solutions business to the media," says Kashiwabara, Executive Officer in charge of solutions development at the company.
Furthermore, within the solutions business, the company also develops systems that customize data for individual companies. One of the new projects they were tasked with was the development of a service for institutional investors from XNET. "This is a service that provides institutional investors with closing price information for the stock and bond markets. XNET previously provided their service using closing price information from another company, but they approached us because they were looking for an information provider that could provide higher quality information and that could potentially expand their services in the future," says Kami, who was in charge of development. Along with switching information providers, XNET also wanted to migrate their on-premise servers to AWS, which offers high fault tolerance and availability. "Our company had been moving its in-house systems to AWS for some time, and all of our systems are running on AWS except for feed-related services, which are difficult to operate unless they are on-premise. We were highly praised for being able to propose solutions based on our own experience with the AWS environment, and so system development began," says Kami.
In addition to customizing the implementation information (system development), linking with other companies' data is a requirement.
Yuka Kami, Solution Development Department
This system is designed to store market value data (such as closing prices) from financial information collected by Minkabu the Infonoid in a database format conforming to XNET. This data is then imported into a database server for XNET's customers and provided as a service to end users. "Furthermore, this service also wanted to link with a database owned by a securities think tank and provide financial data and other information to customers," says Kami. HULFT was required to connect to this database. Since the old system was also connected using HULFT, the existing settings were retained and adjusted to fit the new system. A simple internet search of differences between versions allowed for a smooth connection. XNET praised not only the quality of the system and information, but also the speed with which they responded to requests and inquiries, such as troubleshooting and considering additional features.
The company's strength lies in the speedy communication that is possible because of its small but elite team.
Another major benefit of HULFT in short-term development was that it enabled rapid development. "Online securities and similar businesses often require rapid development. If we were to data integration without HULFT, we would have no choice but to develop a program, and we would have to incorporate everything ourselves, including retries in the event of an error. Especially when the development period is short, there is a risk that something may not be considered, but with HULFT, we can reliably handle it just by configuring it, and we can guarantee quality."
Effect: Creating new value by combining multiple pieces of information
The company's business creates added value by collecting and linking various information. "Information is the most important thing in our business. Due to the nature of financial information, accuracy is paramount, so we hope to be able to provide added value by being creative in how the data is presented and compiled without changing or impairing it (Kashiwabara)." For example, the company's ability to seamlessly link and provide information on stocks and investment trusts is a strength unique to the company that operates a variety of financial media. "Until now, it was considered taboo in the industry to display stocks and bonds, which have different risk profiles, side by side. However, from an investor's perspective, it is natural to want to compare the two. With the deregulation of the Financial Services Agency, there has recently been a strong trend to compare and explain things including risk. There is a lot of room for creativity in how information is presented here, and it is an area we would like to continue to actively work on in the future (Kashiwabara)."
Furthermore, while up until now the company has mainly provided services aimed at individual investors, XNET's services will target institutional investors. "We would like to take this opportunity to develop services aimed at professional institutional investors as well. However, while individuals require current and forecast information, professionals conduct their own analysis and predictions based on past data, so they require accumulated data." How to meet the unique needs of professionals seems to be an issue for the future. "Through this system development, we have been able to build a system for accumulating data. We believe that by expanding this, we will be able to meet these needs (Kashiwabara)."
In the financial industry, HULFT is often used for data transfer. "We found that HULFT can link data without any problems. I think we'll be able to flexibly respond to requests to connect with data from various financial institutions in the future," says Kami. Linking various types of data should also lead to further value enhancement.
Minkabu the Infonoid Co., Ltd.
The company provides investment information on a variety of financial products, including stocks, cryptocurrencies, foreign exchange, commodity futures, investment trusts, insurance, and real estate, primarily through "Minna no Kabushiki," one of Japan's largest investor information media. It also provides information as a solution package to not only individual investors but also financial institutions, utilizing a cloud input system that aggregates and utilizes user posts and browsing data, and AI that analyzes big data and instantly generates content. Aiming to expand financial information coverage and build a medium-term group growth structure, the company made REIT information vendor Prop Tech plus Co., Ltd. a consolidated subsidiary in December 2019.
Sales partner: Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
- The content of this case study is current as of the time of the interview. The content of this case study may change without notice.