Aiming to meet the expectations of stakeholders, we are developing and offering innovative services, leveraging our ability to adapt and respond to change.
In December 2020 we surpassed a great milestone: the 90th anniversary of the founding of our Company. I would like to thank all of our stakeholders, including our supportive clients, shareholders, business associates and our employee, for making this possible.
Takeshi Ueno
We started out as a securities certificate printing company in 1930. By the 1960s we had built up a strong position as the leading printing company in our field. From the 1970s to the 1980s, we advanced into the area of documentation for the Commercial Code (the current Companies Act) and the Securities and Exchange Act (currently the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act). We planned a major change in our operations, to move into the disclosure business of providing support for corporate information disclosure. We expanded into the areas of support for investor relations and investment trusts, as well as fields associated with the IPO boom in Japan.
From the 1990s to the 2000s, we swiftly responded to the opportunities provided by changes in the business environment. These included the revisions to disclosure legislation, the increasing application of IT in the disclosure field, and the moves towards document digitization. We developed and offered systems for disclosure support and database services. In 2006 we changed our company name from Asia Securities Printing to PRONEXUS. The new name represents our determination to strengthen the nexuses we have established with our clients by earning their trust, and the efforts of every employee to raise the value and service quality they provide as professionals.
From the 2010s, we proactively integrated a wide range of services into our M&A-related support, including English-language IR tools suited to revised disclosure systems, a broader lineup of online services, system improvements, support services for Japanese companies operating overseas, a full lineup of database services, and client-tailored business process outsourcing (BPO) services. We also began offering BPO services to Japanese companies in Taiwan and Vietnam in 2014 and 2019, respectively, through locally established subsidiaries, which have been performing well. At present we service some 4,000 clients, ranging from listed companies to corporations planning IPOs, investment trust firms, J-REIT investment corporations, financial institutions, and universities.
From our foundation through to the present day, we have stayed ahead of changing trends by developing and offering original services and products that focus on corporate disclosure. Indeed, we have created a new set of services and established a business model that is unique not only in Japan but in the world. Looking ahead, however, we will need to recreate our business model to adapt to the major changes in the business environment and workplace practices that have taken place since the COVID-19 pandemic, and to successfully respond to the accelerating shift to digitalization and paperless operations in the fields of corporate disclosure and investor relations.
As the shift to digitalization and paperless operations gains momentum, we are keenly aware of the importance of transforming business processes and the way we communicate with clients. Accordingly, we plan to increase strategic investment to quickly develop systems for sharing information and providing clients with disclosure processing support, and to install in-house facilities for digitalizing operations and facilitating telecommuting, and recruit skilled professionals for growing businesses.
As the need to restructure the social and economic system is discussed on a global scale, the business environment surrounding PRONEXUS is expected to undergo drastic changes. Since our founding, our incredible ability to adapt and respond to change has been part of our corporate DNA and we will continue to use our strengths in system development and consulting prowess to develop innovative products and services in the future. We will continue to offer our clients new forms of value that will yield satisfaction and peace of mind, as we aim to be a company that is both respected by all stakeholders and indispensable to society.
President and Representative Director of PRONEXUS Inc. Takeshi Ueno