Hironari Nozaki Citi The buy side says: “He’s able to distill everything down to one bullet point.”

Call him “Mr. Information.” That’s how one investor describes Citi’s ­Hironari Nozaki, who claims first-team honors for an eighth straight year. “If I want a number, chances are he has it, and his response to inquiries is lightning fast — I don’t think he ever sleeps,” this client adds. Nozaki, 47, also makes money for people. His January 2010 valuation-­based buy on Tokyo’s Aozora Bank, at ¥99, anticipated a near doubling of the stock price, to ¥188 — and trounced the sector by a phenomenal 88.4 percentage points — as of early February 2011, when he downgraded the stock to hold, again on valuation. By the end of that month, the share price had slipped 2.1 percent, to ¥184. One buy-­sider praises Nozaki for “good knowledge of the industry, with special expertise on how to make his way through the maze of financial regulation, as well as good stock picking skills.”

Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.