Message from ブックメーカーjリーグ Group CEO

Japan’s financial sector, our mother market, faces a challenging environment with accelerating population decline and aging, a domestic economy that continues to suffer from years of anemic growth, a negative interest rate environment, and ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we are witnessing ブックメーカーjリーグ increasing presence of new competitors in ブックメーカーjリーグ financial sector and ブックメーカーjリーグ increased unbundling and re-bundling of financial and non-financial services and products. Given this trend, while ブックメーカーjリーグ need for financial functions such as deposits, loans, and settlements may remain, there is no guarantee that customers will select traditional players such as SMBC Group to provide them with those functions.

However, by no means does this challenging business environment cause me to feel any pessimism. Rather, I have every confidence that SMBC Group will continue to grow as a global financial institution in a sustainable manner.

What we must not forget is that regardless of ブックメーカーjリーグ business environment, there will also be opportunities for growth. In recent years, we saw a rapid acceleration in ブックメーカーjリーグ pace of technological innovation and changing customer needs, for example ブックメーカーjリーグ shift to cashless payments in ブックメーカーjリーグ BtoC sector and ブックメーカーjリーグ global move toward electronic vehicles in ブックメーカーjリーグ automobile sector followed by advancements toward ブックメーカーjリーグ commercialization of self-driving vehicles. At ブックメーカーjリーグ base of such changes lie irreversible megatrends with some examples being enhanced convenience due to ブックメーカーjリーグ digital shift and increased expectations of society toward ESG. This being ブックメーカーjリーグ case, I expect these trends to accelerate even further going forward. In such an operating environment, traditional industry status and sales networks will not always function as an advantage. In fact, they could hinder innovation due to concerns regarding legacy and sunk costs. However, I believe it is possible to realize sustainable growth in a market such as Japan where growth in ブックメーカーjリーグ size of ブックメーカーjリーグ overall pie is not expected if we can create alternative demand and other new needs while also building ブックメーカーjリーグ necessary platforms to address those needs.

Furthermore, advances in technology have provided humanity with new ways of facing and fighting threats. For example, in terms of COVID-19, scientists from around ブックメーカーjリーグ world worked to identify ブックメーカーjリーグ underlying virus and released ブックメーカーjリーグ results of ブックメーカーjリーグ genome sequence analysis online in January 2020, a time when ブックメーカーjリーグ virus was still limited to parts of China. Effective vaccines were not only developed less than one year from this breakthrough, ブックメーカーjリーグ large-scale production of those vaccines was realized. Furthermore, we were able to resume business activities at a level similar to that before ブックメーカーjリーグ global health crisis through ブックメーカーjリーグ use of web conferencing and other digital tools as we combated ブックメーカーjリーグ spread of ブックメーカーjリーグ virus by curbing our activities while we waited for ブックメーカーjリーグ rollout of vaccines. Humanity was essentially powerless in its efforts to combat past pandemics such as ブックメーカーjリーグ Spanish Flu and SARS. Past efforts were limited to quarantining infected individuals and placing restrictions on ブックメーカーjリーグ movement of people, after which there was no real effective means that could be implemented other than to wait for ブックメーカーjリーグ pandemic to run its course. As you can see humanity has made great progress in its ability to combat pandemics and other threats. ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a tremendous impact on ブックメーカーjリーグ lives of people all over ブックメーカーjリーグ world, and I sincerely wish nothing more than to see this pandemic brought to an end at ブックメーカーjリーグ earliest possible date, but I am also encouraged to see humanity pooling its wisdom and using innovation to minimize economic disruption while controlling ブックメーカーjリーグ spread of ブックメーカーjリーグ virus.

“In a calm sea, everyone is a pilot.” This is ブックメーカーjリーグ English equivalent of ブックメーカーjリーグ saying “Shippu ni Keiso wo Shiru” from ブックメーカーjリーグ Book of ブックメーカーjリーグ Later Han in China which illustrates that people and organizations that remain like a Keiso (wind resistant blade of grass) stand out in ブックメーカーjリーグ face of Shippu (strong headwinds). SMBC Group is facing a number of headwinds, and our true strength as a financial institution is being challenged. Having said this, I have no doubt that we will overcome these headwinds and realize sustainable growth through tireless innovation and by finding new opportunities for growth. I will share ブックメーカーjリーグ reasons for my confidence in a later part of my message.

We kicked-off our current Medium-Term Management Plan last spring during Japan’s first state of emergency. At that time, we were not able to predict with any level of certainty how serious ブックメーカーjリーグ impact of this unknown pandemic would be. As such, we had to launch ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan in a volatile and highly uncertain business environment with all SMBC Group employees having to display ingenuity on a daily basis to carry-out their responsibilities.

First, as part of ブックメーカーjリーグ financial infrastructure on which retail and wholesale customers rely to support their daily business and nonbusiness needs, we placed ブックメーカーjリーグ highest priority on providing undisrupted financial services. For example, SMBC continued operating all of its branches and ATMs while implementing extensive safety precautions. Furthermore, ブックメーカーjリーグ bank also enhanced online services to allow customers to perform transactions without having to visit a branch. SMBC Group also strived to fulfill its social responsibilities as a global financial institution by committing at its peak a total of ¥10 trillion to support domestic and overseas customers to overcome ブックメーカーjリーグ impact of ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic.

In terms of business results, although I considered our progress in ブックメーカーjリーグ first half of FY2020 as insufficient due to a slowdown in business activities and in ブックメーカーjリーグ execution of our various initiatives, in ブックメーカーjリーグ second half of ブックメーカーjリーグ year we were able to accelerate initiatives targeting our seven key strategies by leveraging online tools and enhancing marketing-related efforts in terms of both quality and quantity. While our consumer finance, aircraft leasing, and Asia business suffered from a slowdown in ブックメーカーjリーグ global economy and decreased consumption due to ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic, we managed to generate consolidated net business profit which was close to ブックメーカーjリーグ FY2019 figure thanks to ブックメーカーjリーグ strong performance of our wealth management and overseas securities businesses. In addition, our final credit cost was lower than initially anticipated due to government support and liquidity support from banks, and our bottom line, while not at a level that reflects our true capabilities, exceeded initial expectations by a substantial amount.

Although ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic continues to reap havoc around ブックメーカーjリーグ world, vaccinations are steadily progressing, and customers and SMBC Group are using digital technology to adapt our corporate activities to ブックメーカーjリーグ current business environment. We also now possess a much clearer picture of ブックメーカーjリーグ impact ブックメーカーjリーグ global health crisis is having on our financial results. While we will continue to see volatility in ブックメーカーjリーグ business environment, I believe immediate uncertainties have cleared. Now, not only can we clearly see ブックメーカーjリーグ path we must follow in ブックメーカーjリーグ short-term, we can also see an end to ブックメーカーjリーグ disruptions caused by ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic.

ブックメーカーjリーグ path we must follow is none other than ブックメーカーjリーグ path laid out in ブックメーカーjリーグ current Medium-Term Management Plan that was established as ブックメーカーjリーグ first step toward ブックメーカーjリーグ realization of our Vision: “A trusted global solution provider committed to ブックメーカーjリーグ growth of our customers and ブックメーカーjリーグ advancement of society.” ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic was an unexpected factor that was not reflected in ブックメーカーjリーグ original planning of ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan, but certain trends we witnessed during FY2020 such as ブックメーカーjリーグ acceleration of cashless payments, increased momentum of ESG, and ブックメーカーjリーグ deepening of geopolitical risks are trends that we had identified prior to ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic. What ブックメーカーjリーグ global health crisis changed is ブックメーカーjリーグ momentum and ブックメーカーjリーグ applicable timelines of those trends. As such, there is no need to change ブックメーカーjリーグ overall direction of ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan, and we will continue to proceed with its execution with ブックメーカーjリーグ utmost confidence.

Of course, we will finetune our strategies in a flexible and precise manner based on ブックメーカーjリーグ issues and strategies requiring acceleration which became clearer due to our experiences during ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, if we look at our overseas securities business, we can see that although SMBC Nikko Securities’ gross profit for FY2020 was ブックメーカーjリーグ highest since it joined SMBC Group, our competitors with more extensive and established overseas securities business operations were able to generate much larger profits. ブックメーカーjリーグ reason is that financial markets boomed before we could strengthen our overseas securities business framework to ブックメーカーjリーグ extent targeted in ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan. For cashless payments, ブックメーカーjリーグ base of user clients and participating stores expanded due to ブックメーカーjリーグ growing popularity of online shopping and touchless payment. We will further accelerate ブックメーカーjリーグ strategies we established in ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan targeting such business areas as we expect them to continue growing in ブックメーカーjリーグ medium- to long-term.

On ブックメーカーjリーグ other hand, our consumer finance, aircraft leasing, and Asia business were forced to operate under a challenging environment in FY2020. However, there is no change to those businesses’ medium- to long-term growth potential, and they retain their competitive and strategic importance in our overall business strategy. In FY2021 we will turn to ブックメーカーjリーグ offensive and proactively expand our activities in those markets in light of ブックメーカーjリーグ expected normalization of domestic consumption and ブックメーカーjリーグ global economy.

While we expect for FY2022, ブックメーカーjリーグ final year of ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan, to be impacted to a certain degree by ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic I am confident that we can overcome ブックメーカーjリーグ negative impact by accelerating ブックメーカーjリーグ above strategies and focusing very closely on opportunities to reduce costs. We will continue our efforts to realize sustainable growth and there is no change to our goal of generating bottom-line profit of more than ¥700 billion in ブックメーカーjリーグ final year of ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan.

I have repeatedly stressed ブックメーカーjリーグ need to adhere to three key themes if we are to realize sustainable growth. These themes are ブックメーカーjリーグ result of repeated deliberations aimed at identifying ブックメーカーjリーグ role SMBC Group can play, ブックメーカーjリーグ strengths we can leverage, and whether we can form partnerships with players from outside ブックメーカーjリーグ financial sector to address issues in a future when ブックメーカーjリーグ needs of customers and society will undergo a substantial change from ブックメーカーjリーグ present day.

ブックメーカーjリーグ first theme is data oriented.

Information and data are very valuable assets that are not represented on a company’s balance sheet, and businesses around ブックメーカーjリーグ world, not only those in ブックメーカーjリーグ financial sector, are striving to monetize these assets.

ブックメーカーjリーグ second theme is to build platforms.

In Japan, we provide services to 43 million individual customers and SMBC extends loans to 80 thousand companies. By leveraging this robust customer base, SMBC Group can become a platformer that uses its financial capabilities as foundations to provide a variety of services.

ブックメーカーjリーグ third theme is to become a solutions provider.

We can add value which truly enhances our customers business only if we look beyond immediate services such as loans and payments. We must identify ブックメーカーjリーグ reasons for customers engaging in those services and provide comprehensive, top-tier solutions by proactively collaborating with companies from outside ブックメーカーjリーグ financial sector if required.

These three themes are not independent of each other, rather, they are closely intertwined. While all ブックメーカーjリーグ initiatives established under ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan reflect these themes, I will take this opportunity to share with you three examples.

Advertising Business

A tremendous amount of payment and credit data is accumulated in our banking, securities, and consumer finance businesses. In other words, you could say that we are one large platform with finance at its base. We are currently contemplating a number of new businesses which will allow us to leverage this data, and in July 2021 we established SMBC Digital Marketing, Ltd., a company that operates an advertising and marketing services business utilizing financial big data. We will strive to create new value by developing a business that uses our platform to analyze customers’ needs and then transmit information and advertisements that are believed to reflect those needs. Of course, any concerns regarding ブックメーカーjリーグ protection of personal data and ブックメーカーjリーグ implementation of necessary security protocols will be addressed first.

Elder Business

ブックメーカーjリーグ SMBC Elder Program is a business we launched as a result of thinking outside ブックメーカーjリーグ traditional boundaries of ブックメーカーjリーグ finance sector in response to ブックメーカーjリーグ ongoing diversification of customers’ needs in Japan’s super-aging society. ブックメーカーjリーグ concerns of senior citizens are not limited to securing sufficient funds to cover living expenses following their retirement. Their concerns encompass a diverse range of matters such as inheritance, health and nursing care, housework, security, and their relationship with family members. In order to offer a one-stop solution to such issues, we will develop a financial service focused platform that also provides services that SMBC Group does not offer, such as housekeeping and security, by proactively collaborating with players from outside ブックメーカーjリーグ financial sector.

Expanding Our Franchise in Asia

Under our Multi-franchise strategy, we are devising and implementing initiatives based upon a time span of ten or twenty years in order to build a second and third SMBC Group in Asia’s developing economies. We made three commitments when formulating our Multi-franchise strategy, which are: “We will become a full-line financial services provider in ブックメーカーjリーグ target market,” “ブックメーカーjリーグ franchise will have a strong home-market focus with its foundations firmly embedded in ブックメーカーjリーグ local economy,” and “We will not retreat even when faced with changes in ブックメーカーjリーグ business environment.” As such, even after COVID-19 spread throughout Asia, we made no change to ブックメーカーjリーグ Multi-franchise strategy as we continued to search for seeds that had ブックメーカーjリーグ potential to blossom into future platforms.

Such efforts allowed us to secure ブックメーカーjリーグ opportunity to acquire a 49% stake in FE Credit, a leading Vietnamese consumer finance company. FE Credit has a robust retail business network and a highly competitive business model, allowing us to obtain a 50% market share of Vietnam’s fast growing consumer market sector. FE Credit has also maintained a high level of profitability with an ROE of more than 20% and is expected to continue experiencing robust growth in its assets and profits. Furthermore, we entered into a capital partnership with Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, a mid-tier commercial bank in ブックメーカーjリーグ Philippines, while also obtaining a substantial retail finance platform in India, which is expected to become ブックメーカーjリーグ most populous country in ブックメーカーjリーグ world in ブックメーカーjリーグ near future, through our acquisition of Fullerton India, a top tier nonbank that possesses a retail and SME business network throughout ブックメーカーjリーグ country, as part of efforts to establish SMBC Group franchises in each of those countries.

Our businesses in these countries have traditionally involved ブックメーカーjリーグ approaching of large local and Japanese firms through SMBC branches. ブックメーカーjリーグ above deals allow SMBC Group to expand into ブックメーカーjリーグ mid-tier corporate, SME, and fast-growing retail sectors, and combined with our earlier acquisition of BTPN in Indonesia move us one step closer to achieving our goal of establishing full-banking capabilities in Asia’s developing economies.

We will continue to pursue high quality inorganic opportunities in a disciplined manner as part of efforts to realize sustainable growth while also enhancing shareholder returns, a topic I will address later.

There is a 460 meter “ブックメーカーjリーグ Trails of ブックメーカーjリーグ Earth” at Furano Field which represents ブックメーカーjリーグ earth’s 4.6-billion-year history. Furano Field is led by ブックメーカーjリーグ screenwriter Mr. Soh Kuramoto, and SMBC Group has extended our support since its establishment. How long do you think Homo sapiens’ 200 thousand year history is in ブックメーカーjリーグ “ブックメーカーjリーグ Trails of ブックメーカーjリーグ Earth”?

A mere two centimeters. When we read history books it feels that ブックメーカーjリーグ birth of humanity took place a very, very long time ago, but ブックメーカーjリーグ reality is, from ブックメーカーjリーグ earth’s perspective, ブックメーカーjリーグ history of ブックメーカーjリーグ human race is about ブックメーカーjリーグ same length as your fingertip. ブックメーカーjリーグ 200 years following ブックメーカーjリーグ Industrial Revolution, a period which saw ブックメーカーjリーグ start of global warming, is a mere 0.02 millimeters. “ブックメーカーjリーグ Trails of ブックメーカーjリーグ Earth” continues into ブックメーカーjリーグ future and at its end lies a stone monument with ブックメーカーjリーグ words: “We are merely borrowing ブックメーカーjリーグ earth from future generations.” I believe that Furano Field is trying to convey a very important message through “ブックメーカーjリーグ Trails of ブックメーカーjリーグ Earth.” There is no special technique or method to realize sustainability. Rather, there is an obvious solution, we must create a society in which ブックメーカーjリーグ current generation can achieve happiness and enjoy ブックメーカーjリーグ benefits of economic growth while also ensuring that we pass on ブックメーカーjリーグ earth to future generations in a green, vibrant state. We must also accept that humanity, in return for enjoying ブックメーカーjリーグ benefits of advancements in civilization, rapidly advanced global warming in a time frame that is only 0.02 millimeters of ブックメーカーjリーグ earth’s total history.

In order to pass on a green earth to future generations, SMBC Group established a long-term road map to enhance our climate change-related efforts. First, SMBC Group will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. We will also execute ¥30 trillion of sustainable finance by 2030 to support customers’ climate change-related initiatives and their transition to a green business model. Furthermore, we will commence efforts to identify ブックメーカーjリーグ greenhouse gas emissions of our loan and investment portfolio while engaging in discussions with customers regarding ブックメーカーjリーグ decarbonization of their business models as ブックメーカーjリーグ first step to realizing a carbon-neutral supply chain by 2050. However, ブックメーカーjリーグ expectations of society continue to grow even as we engage in such efforts, and I believe that climate change has ブックメーカーjリーグ potential to become a game changer not only for ブックメーカーjリーグ financial sector but for a wide range of business sectors. We will further enhance our efforts while continuing to update our decarbonization-related procedures and action plans in a flexible manner.

In order to successfully enhance our climate change-related initiatives, I would like to stress that we must also turn our attention to ブックメーカーjリーグ short-term and conduct calm and objective analyses of ブックメーカーjリーグ current status of business sectors and customers, after which we would determine ブックメーカーjリーグ best possible course of action that can be executed in ブックメーカーjリーグ immediate future. ブックメーカーjリーグ consistent execution of such actions must be balanced with ブックメーカーjリーグ pursuit of long-term goals. Given our global relationships with customers from a variety of business sectors, and our role as a supplier of finance, ブックメーカーjリーグ lifeblood of ブックメーカーjリーグ modern economy, we must take great care in how we address ブックメーカーjリーグ issue of climate change. If we abruptly turn to and proceed down ブックメーカーjリーグ wrong path, not only could we disrupt ブックメーカーjリーグ steady supply of energy, we may also impede customers’ efforts to develop technologies that could support ブックメーカーjリーグ decarbonization of their business models and society. Together with our customers, we will strive to realize ブックメーカーjリーグ decarbonization of society while engaging in careful discussions with all stakeholders, paying close attention to ブックメーカーjリーグ impact our efforts will have on businesses and to trends in energy transition and innovation.

A financial group’s most important resource is its people, and ブックメーカーjリーグ workplace is an important stage where employees can grow and pursue their aspirations. An important responsibility of a CEO is to prepare a stage that is large enough for employees to truly challenge themselves and to write a script that allows them to demonstrate their unique potential, so that all employees can put on their best performance.

In recent years, we have seen a material change in employees’ mindsets, especially in our younger employees, with a growing number of employees placing greater importance on how their company contributes to society. All our employees possess various ideas and have ブックメーカーjリーグ backbone to pursue new challenges. Ever since assuming leadership of SMBC Group, I have urged employees to “Break ブックメーカーjリーグ Mold,” and I have supported employees attempting to pursue new challenges without being bound by precedent or fixed ideas. I have assigned management resources to employees who have stepped forward and established new companies for them to lead, even in cases when ブックメーカーjリーグ employee was of a junior or mid-level rank. So far, 10 companies have been established through my “Producing CEO” initiative. ブックメーカーjリーグ purpose of this initiative is to raise employees’ motivation by instilling a “I can succeed if I try” mentality, and I look forward to seeing ブックメーカーjリーグ new companies grow to a stage where they can contribute to SMBC Group’s profitability or to ブックメーカーjリーグ enhancement of customer services.

I will accelerate ブックメーカーjリーグ following two initiatives so that this flow of innovation will become even stronger, diverse, and sustained.

ブックメーカーjリーグ first is Midoriba, our internal SNS which we launched last year. More than 20 thousand employees at SMBC have joined ブックメーカーjリーグ service with 6 thousand of those employees being active users who regularly post a variety of ideas and information. Promising business ideas receive helpful advice and constructive comments regardless of age or departments. Online communities in which employees support their colleagues in pursuing challenges are naturally developing. A number of new business ideas have already been identified as having ブックメーカーjリーグ potential for commercialization. We plan on introducing Midoriba to other SMBC Group companies in ブックメーカーjリーグ future.

ブックメーカーjリーグ second is diversity and inclusion. Innovation that opens ブックメーカーjリーグ door to ブックメーカーjリーグ future is ブックメーカーjリーグ result of employees with a diverse range of characteristics such as gender, age, and nationality coming together to combine their uniqueness and varied views while freely collaborating with players from outside their business sector. SMBC Group is comprised of companies that possess distinct characteristics, and its businesses are run by more than 100 thousand employees coming from diverse backgrounds spread across 40 countries and areas. We must not relax our efforts to further accelerate our diversity-related initiatives given that customers’ needs and businesses are becoming increasingly diverse and global. We will strive to realize true diversity and inclusion through ブックメーカーjリーグ diversification of our senior management team, ブックメーカーjリーグ empowerment of female employees, and by supporting ブックメーカーjリーグ balancing of professional responsibilities with life events.

ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic has not changed our policy of focusing on ブックメーカーjリーグ enhancement of SMBC Group’s corporate value on an ongoing basis and distributing profits to our shareholders. A progressive dividend policy remains our principal approach to shareholder returns, and our goal is to realize a dividend payout ratio of 40% during ブックメーカーjリーグ course of ブックメーカーjリーグ Medium-Term Management Plan. In FY2020 we maintained our dividend payment at ¥190 although we saw a substantial decrease in our bottom line. As a result, our dividend payout ratio rose to 51% but by no means do we view this as having reached our goal. Our goal is to realize a dividend payout ratio of 40% while achieving our target profit attributable to owners of parent of over ¥700 billion. As a first step toward realizing this goal we increased our dividend forecast for FY2021 to ¥200.

We will also pursue opportunities to execute share buybacks as part of our efforts to enhance shareholder returns. We decided not to announce share buybacks when we released our financial results of FY2020 in May given ブックメーカーjリーグ re-extension of Japan’s state of emergency and other uncertainties in ブックメーカーjリーグ business environment resulting from ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic. However, we will pursue opportunities for share buybacks in FY2021 while continuing to pay careful attention to ブックメーカーjリーグ ongoing impact of ブックメーカーjリーグ COVID-19 pandemic and movements in overseas markets given our discounted share price and ブックメーカーjリーグ fact that we expect to be able to maintain our capital levels at sufficient levels even after factoring in investments in inorganic growth opportunities.

Furthermore, in order to increase SMBC Group’s corporate value over ブックメーカーjリーグ medium- to long-term, in addition to improving ROE and other quantitative financial metrics, it is vital that we also enhance ブックメーカーjリーグ non-financial value of SMBC Group such as data, personnel, and ESG which are not reflected on our balance sheet. We will enhance our human capital, intellectual capital, and social capital by accelerating sustainability-related initiatives and ブックメーカーjリーグ creation of a work environment that allows employees to pursue their hopes and dreams. We will maximize ブックメーカーjリーグ disclosure of both financial and non-financial information and engage with all of our shareholders in an appropriate manner to minimize information asymmetry and decrease ブックメーカーjリーグ cost of shareholder’s equity so that we may realize ブックメーカーjリーグ sustained growth of SMBC Group’s corporate value.

“Have ブックメーカーjリーグ heavens granted me this mission by coincidence? No, this is surely not ブックメーカーjリーグ case.” This is an approximate English translation of an excerpt from literature compiled during ブックメーカーjリーグ Song dynasty in China and illustrates ブックメーカーjリーグ importance of carrying out one’s duties, regardless of ブックメーカーjリーグ circumstances. Roughly 40 years have passed since I joined ブックメーカーjリーグ banking sector, and I have experienced firsthand many challenges such as ブックメーカーjリーグ collapse of Japan’s bubble economy, Japan’s big bang financial reforms, ブックメーカーjリーグ Lehman Crisis, and ブックメーカーjリーグ current COVID-19 pandemic. However, I never forgot ブックメーカーjリーグ importance of carrying out my responsibilities regardless of changes in ブックメーカーjリーグ environment or ブックメーカーjリーグ challenges I had to face.

ブックメーカーjリーグ same can be said of companies. Bill Gates’s quote, “Banking is necessary, banks are not” addresses ブックメーカーjリーグ fundamental issue of whether “banks” as a business format are essential to society or whether finance as a “function” is essential. I view this is having its roots in ブックメーカーjリーグ same concept as ブックメーカーjリーグ pessimistic theory which argues that modern society does not require banks. However, since ブックメーカーjリーグ answer is clearly ブックメーカーjリーグ latter choice, we must continue to be ブックメーカーjリーグ provider of essential functions without being bound by our past track record or ブックメーカーjリーグ fact that we are a bank. In order to accomplish ブックメーカーjリーグ mission we have been granted by ブックメーカーjリーグ heavens, we must identify growth opportunities and tirelessly innovate so that we can contribute to customers and society through our financial functions.

Going forward, our world will change at an even faster rate, and our future will hold both numerous opportunities and challenges. SMBC Group will strive to realize further growth by driving our roots even deeper and wider as we press onward. I would like to ask for ブックメーカーjリーグ continued support and understanding of all our stakeholders as I will stand at ブックメーカーjリーグ forefront of our efforts to overcome ブックメーカーjリーグ strong headwinds, and SMBC Group will put forth a united effort to overcome ブックメーカーjリーグ challenging environment.