Involvement with SDGs

By demonstrating regional comprehensive financial functions and promoting local industries beyond financial services, we support the long-term growth of our customers and the region and “build a vibrant regional society” together with our customers and the communities based on the Group’s management philosophy.

• Providing one-stop financial services in collaboration with banking, brokerage, and trust functions.
• Initiatives to create and support regional industries through partnership and tie-up with external entities and investment funds.
• Promoting measures for regional development by setting up a company to promote tourism and agriculture.
• Investing in corporate bodies for expanding customers’ markets. Also, organizing business meetings and business matching.
• Providing services to support customers for IPO (initial public offerings)
• Providing side-job referral service
• Support for recovery and reconstruction from natural disasters and infectious diseases.
• Providing training programs for local business managers through related think-tanks, organizing business contests, and supporting start-ups through collaboration between industry, government and academia and the establishment of funds.
• Expanding financial services through mobile devices and Internet environments and improve customer convenience through mobile banking and ATM vehicles.

[Consistency with the Japanese government’s Priority Areas and Policies]*

• Achievement of good health and longevity
• Creating growth market, regional revitalization, and promoting technological innovation
• Sustainable and resilient land use, promoting quality infrastructure

*The Japanese government set up 8 Priority Areas and Policies. For more details, please see the following section.

We fulfill our responsibilities as a company rooted in the region through a range of activities to preserve and promote the outstanding culture and traditions.

• A range of initiatives to support restoration from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, including donations, sales of financial products that support the restoration, establishment of reconstruction funds, setup of reconstruction support sites, and volunteer activities by employees.
• Initiatives to nurture the next generation and improve financial literacy by holding money classes for grade school students, accepting student interns, staging the Economics Koshien Quiz Tournament, providing financial products that support education and scholarships, and holding sports lessons for kids.
• Initiatives to preserve the regional culture and arts through Kagin Cultural Foundation, Higo Water and Greenery Protection Fund Charitable Foundation and Higo no Satoyama Gallery.
• Initiatives as a local community member, including participation in local events and clean-up activities and volunteering for sporting events. In addition, development of a “volunteer leave system” for allowing employees to engage in their independent local contribution and environment conservation activities.

[Consistency with the Japanese government’s Priority Areas and Policies]

• Empowerment of all people
• Creating growth market, regional revitalization, and promoting technological innovation
• Conservation of environment, including biodiversity, forests and marine environment
• Achieving peaceful, safe and secure societies

We continue to promote initiatives to create a workplace where a variety of employees work enthusiastically, support their good work-life balance, and empower female employees.

• Creating a workplace where a variety of employees work.
• Thorough measures to empower female employees by increasing the number of female managers and executives, establishing in-house daycare centers, developing improved systems for parental leave/reduced working hours, and setting up designated departments to handle these matters.
• Introducing telework and staggered hours as an effort to reform employee workstyles and prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
• Implementing the leave-work-on-time day and refresh days as initiatives to promote employees’ good work-life balance.
• Strengthening development of financial specialists and human resources development for new business areas (wider and more diverse areas). In addition, implementing human resource development programs through personnel exchanges within the Group and utilization of external organizations.
• Offering an employee stock ownership plan to all regular employees as part of the employee benefits and welfare program, allowing them to purchase and hold shares of the company’s stock for the purposes of long-term asset formation while accepting new members and applications to change the number of units for stock purchases once a year.
• Subsidizing a certain amount of accommodation expenses for employees and their family members through the health insurance association by tying up with several lodging facilities in Kumamoto and Kagoshima Prefectures.

[Consistency with the Japanese government’s Priority Areas and Policies]

• Empowerment of all people

We have built up a customer-oriented corporate culture through the training of officers and employees, based on sound governance systems and robust risk management that apply to all members of the Group.

• Merging and consolidating functions at headquarters within the Group and organizational streamlining/ reinforcement by promoting the consolidation of group companies.
• Generating management resources by streamlining organizational structures, and reinforcing operations and improving productivity by reallocating the generated resources.
• Improving profits and risk management stance through the construction of a risk appetite framework on a Group basis.
• From the perspective of maintaining a favorable working environment and protecting employee human rights, holding training and study sessions according to levels (for all employees, for managers, for female external relations employees) to eradicate bullying and various forms of harassment. Holding study sessions on compliance every month for all employees, and training for managers incorporating introduction of specific cases of compliance violations (including bullying and harassment), thoroughly instilling awareness among employees.
• To manage customers’ personal information properly, conducting compliance training monthly, such as managing personal information, for all employees including contract employees and part-time employees. The training curriculum for new recruits incorporates information security management. To enhance information security management, conducting education in managing personal information thoroughly for employees using various tools such as the in-bank information communication system and e-learning.

[Consistency with the Japanese government’s Priority Areas and Policies]

• System and method to promote the implementation of the SDGs