Message from the Group CSuO

The Group is advancing its sustainability initiatives based on the four Core Materiality with the aim of realizing its Purpose, “Partnering with you to build a brighter and more secure future.” We aim to embed sustainability into our daily business activities and decision-making processes, rather than treating it as a special initiative, so that we can create both social value and financial/corporate value in an integrated manner.

We believe that it is important for us to clearly demonstrate the social issues we are addressing, the strengths we are leveraging, the initiatives through which we create social impact, and how this contributes to corporate value enhancement in the medium to long term (our “Impact Path”). We have also reexamined our initiatives in areas such as climate change, human rights, responsible investment, and social contribution, which we have previously covered extensively, in the context of our Core Materiality, and are making efforts to better communicate their background and objectives.

Sustainability initiatives may be perceived as costs or additional burdens in the short term when executing business. For example, promoting financial and economic education does not yield immediate, direct benefits. However, improving financial literacy creates an environment in which each individual can make choices and take on new challenges with peace of mind in line with their own life plans. In other words, it leads to the realization of “Financial Well-being for All,” which our Group aims to realize. Furthermore, in the long term, we believe these efforts will enhance the trust we have earned from our customers and society, thereby helping to strengthen the foundation for our Group to be chosen.

As such, the impact on society and our business opportunities cannot always be realized simultaneously in the short term. That is precisely why we believe that it is important for us to assess what kind of value we can create over the medium to long term, even when faced with trade-offs involving short-term profitability. The impact path serves as a key tool for visualizing these value creation processes, prioritizing initiatives, reviewing KPIs and non-financial indicators, and facilitating Group-wide PDCA cycles. We are currently exploring ways to further integrate our sustainability initiatives with our business strategy and management practices while looking ahead to our next Medium-Term Management Plan.

Sustainability is not something handled only by a few specialized departments. The starting point for creating social impact lies in the work carried out every day by employees who serve customers, design products and services, manage investments and financing, operate our Group companies, and support the foundations of our business.

There are still some fields where we have not yet fully implemented our initiatives, but we will honestly communicate our current status, including the issues we face, and continue to evolve these initiatives into more effective ones through dialogue with our stakeholders. Each Group employee will recognize the connection between their own work and its social impact, and by doing so, we will steadily advance initiatives that both contribute to a sustainable society and support the sustainable growth of our Group.