Top Management Commitment
Aiming to be a “Regional Value Co-creation Group” and create a brighter future together with our customers, local communities, and employees, we will contribute to the realization of a sustainable local community.
Thank you for your continued support for Kyushu Financial Group.
Kyushu Financial Group has marked the fifth anniversary of its founding in October 2015.
During the period, the SDGs were adopted at the UN Summit in 2015 as global goals to solve social problems and create a sustainable world. Our business environment has been drastically changing due to frequent natural disasters caused by climate change or crustal movements and the global spread of COVID-19. A paradigm shift that could threaten each company’s sustainability is happening not only in financial institutions but also in all industries and sectors.
Under such a drastically changing environment, Kyushu Financial Group recognizes the SDGs and risks posed by climate change, labor, human rights, and so on. We also consider the Company’s sustainability activities as key business challenges. As a regional financial institution that looks toward the future and is rooted in the region, we will provide solutions to the issues before they worsen and create new business opportunities for the area.
We hope you understand what the Group aims for as it practices “field-oriented teamwork business management” centered on our Group management philosophy consisting of three pillars: pursuing sustainability for our customers, the local communities, and our employees.
President and Representative Director
“Independence, autonomy, and self-motivation”
An eco-system that takes an on-the-ground approach - This is the Kyushu Financial Group
Kyushu Financial Group was founded on October 1, 2015 through the merger of Higo Bank and Kagoshima Bank, the leading bank in Kumamoto Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture, respectively. The merger was the first of its kind in Japan.
As regional financial institutions, the two banks with a solid and sound management foundation decided to merge with an eye to ten to twenty years into the future to support and help develop their respective local communities facing various challenges. These include a shrinking market due to the aging society and low birthrate and local community development with a balance between the real and virtual worlds in response to the advent of digital society. For this purpose, we are aiming to make our management foundation even more solid and build a community-based financial model for the future.
The distinctive feature that separates Kyushu Financial Group from other financial groups is that it adheres to “sharing the Group's management philosophy” while making sure to take an “on-the-ground approach.” The Group does not adopt a centralized group management style; instead, our management structure focuses on our banking subsidiaries closest to our customers and local communities. We value our banking subsidiaries’ independence, autonomy, and self-motivation to work closely with the local communities.
Meanwhile, the Group centrally manages new business development, including digitalization and upgrading of internal controls to raise our expertise and efficiency. In this way, we aim to build a business model with an appropriate balance between centralization and decentralization; in other words, an eco-system that takes an on-the-ground approach.
Our logo represents a big tree. A big tree has deep roots in the ground and becomes a giant tree when its large trunks stretch out on top of each other. When each of its leaves and trunks fulfills their respective functions well, the tree will grow bigger. This is what Kyushu Financial Group aims to achieve.
Pursuing group management philosophy
Kyushu Financial Group formulated its management philosophy by encompassing the management philosophies of Higo Bank and Kagoshima Bank, whose direction and guiding principles pointed to the same course. Our management philosophy permeates the entire Group and is the highest value that combines the aspirations of the two banks.
We are a financial group that takes an on-the-ground approach, upholding independence, autonomy, and self-motivation as the guiding principles of our actions. This Group management philosophy underpins the thinking and actions of individual organizations and employees when they take ownership of the issues their customers and local communities face and think and act to solve them in the ever-changing external environment.
The first philosophy, “the Group will respond to our customers’ trust and expectations and provide the optimal and best comprehensive financial services,” shows our resolution to create value for customers. The second philosophy, “the Group will develop alongside the region and actively contribute to the realization of a vibrant local community,” signifies our strong commitment to local communities and our will to create value for society.
The third philosophy, “the Group will nurture an abundance of creativity and a free-spirited organizational culture, continuing to challenge itself to move toward a better future,” is our commitment to creating value for its employees by nurturing their independence and creativity and becoming a great company for them.
Practicing the Group management philosophy will enhance value for our customers, society, and employees, and as a result, improve our business results and increase shareholder value.
In other words, our Group management philosophy is to create shared value (CSV) and the backbone of business management practices we should pursue.
Key words for building a sustainable local community: ‘DX’ and ‘SDGs’
DX is the most important challenge for revitalizing regional economies
The population of rural areas is rapidly declining due to the aging society and low birthrate. If it maintains the status quo, it will lead to a negative spiral of decreased demand in the region, a decline in companies' motivation to invest, and a reduced economic scale. The solution to this is the DX initiatives to improve productivity drastically.
The COVID-19 has instantly accelerated digitalization, such as telework and remote communication, and dramatically changed people’s workstyles and lifestyles in Japan, which stands at the cusp of Society 5.0 and in rural areas falling far behind in those fields. We think the “New Normal” will stay with us even if the COVID-19 pandemic ends, and responding to the “New Normal,” including digitalization, is the key to developing local economies and an important role that regional financial institutions should play. First, we will transform ourselves and then provide far-reaching support for DX initiatives using the various networks of the Group to achieve sustainable local communities.
SDGs closely allied with our management philosophy
Another essential keyword for building sustainable local communities is SDGs.
As I mentioned earlier, we practice the Group management philosophy to increase value for our customers, society, and employees, thereby improving the Group’s business results and raising our shareholder value. This practice is consistent with the concept of SDGs, which aim to smoothly undertake economic activities while paying attention to the environment and society over the medium- and long-terms. We, therefore, recognize that SDGs are not new to us; instead, we are practicing SDGs as our main business since our management philosophy has already incorporated them.
The Group has been proactively addressing environmental and social issues as the banks that walk hand in hand with local communities. To explicitly and systematically strengthen the viewpoint of SDGs as a group in our business operations, we have established a dedicated department and formulated a “Sustainability Declaration.” We are promoting SDGs throughout the local communities by establishing a framework for the entire Group to realize a sustainable society and taking specific actions in collaboration with local governments and our business partners.
As a regional financial institution, we are always with our customers and the communities to create a sustainable future. We will contribute to the creation of a sustainable society with our local customers, bearing in mind that our mission is to fulfill our responsibilities for the genuine development of the region.
We look forward to your continued support and patronage for the Group.