Message from the Executive President

Achieved record high profit in FY2024
In today’s world of rising interest
rates, Credit Saison will accelerate
growth through a process of selection
and concentration

Representative, Executive President and COO
Katsumi Mizuno

Toward a GLOBAL NEO FINANCE COMPANY

Credit Saison continues to face challenges and initiate reforms, which is the essence of its DNA since the Company’s foundation. Today, this includes providing financial services to underserved people and businesses that lack access to adequate financial services. This aligns with the approach we adopted during the 1980s in Japan when we issued credit cards with no annual fees to women and young people on a same-day basis. At that time, only men employed by listed companies for an extended period could obtain a credit card. In this regard, we take great pride in promoting financial inclusion and providing women, particularly housewives, with access to financial services. Rooted in the need to address customers’ concerns and resolve issues, Credit Saison has consistently created value. Our vision for 2030 to become a “ GLOBAL NEO FINANCE COMPANY” —A global comprehensive life services group with finance as our core—announced in May 2024, is in keeping with the concept of an integrated lifestyle industry advocated at that time. This vision incorporatesour aspiration to grow globally with finance as our core and remains consistent with our DNA that continues to this day.

Toward a GLOBAL NEO FINANCE COMPANY

Our target business portfolio in 2030

Since assuming the position of Executive President in 2021, we have identified a 2030 business portfolio ratio structure target of 3:3:3:1 for the Payment, Finance, Global, and new businesses, respectively. While this target remains unchanged, the potential exists to raise the ratio of new businesses, which is currently set at “ 1,” and to achieve a ratio structure of 3:3:3:3 through the business expansion of such affiliated companies as Saison Fundex Corporation, which continue to exhibit remarkable growth, and through inorganic growth, including M&As. As far as our new business endeavors are concerned, however, we encountered a number of issues on which to reflect as we worked to become a comprehensive life services group by taking up the challenge of various business pursuits. In hindsight, our failure to succeed stemmed from our efforts to address customer concerns in areas outside the finance domain. Drawing on the lessons learned, I believe it is crucial that we maintain a core focus on finance. In this regard, we can avoid any incidence of conglomerate discount should our business diversify going forward.

Medium-term Management Plan

Toward a GLOBAL NEO FINANCE COMPANY

COO Credit Saison launched a new medium-term management plan in FY2024. Looking back on the first fiscal year of the plan, consolidated business profit hit a record high of ¥93.6 billion and ROE came in at 9.4%. After excluding such factors as the one-off reversal of the special allowance for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company’s consolidated business profit totaled ¥84.0 billion, which I believe is a true reflection of our underlying strength. Recognizing that this figure would pose a significant challenge just a few years ago, our ability to secure record high business profit is both a source of considerable confidence and a result that I consider worthy of note.
Credit Saison has set a business profit target of more than ¥100 billion in FY2026, the final fiscal year of its Medium-term Management Plan. Looking further ahead, and on a personal note, my goal is to help transform the Company into an entity that is capable of generating ¥200 billion in business profit by FY2030. As our competitors in Japan, including financial institutions and telecommunications carriers, launch their own economic zone concepts, I believe that establishing a solid financial base will serve as an important selection criterion for the Company, which is building the “Saison Partner Economic Zone” through flexible partnerships. Here, I am convinced that the ability to generate earnings in Japan is extremely important. Of equal importance, and as discussed later, is the need to ensure that profits are properly returned to both shareholders and employees.
Credit Saison has identified four priority themes under its Medium-term Management Plan. The first, “Thoroughly bulk up domestic businesses,” continues to progress well with successful steps taken to reform the structure of the Payment Business. Our DX endeavors have also had a significant impact in recent years. In addition to the trend toward in-house paperless operations and workflows across a wide range of activities, including those in the Finance Business, through the use of IT and digitalization, we have witnessed substantial improvements in usability from various initiatives aimed at enhancing frontline interaction with customers, including reducing the time required for screening and digitalization.
As far as the second priority theme, “Utilize banking functions to accelerate each business, and strengthen financial functions,” is concerned, steady progress has been made with our alliance with Suruga Bank Ltd., collaboration loans, and personnel interaction. In joining the business and screening departments of Suruga Bank, Credit Saison employees are gaining expertise in a wide range of fields, including financial techniques. More than just a one-way street, positive steps are being taken to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship. In addition to accelerating collaboration in the payment field, discussions on the exchange of personnel and use of the Company’s customer base to facilitate integration with Suruga Bank accounts commenced from April 2025.
Turning to the third priority theme, “Evolution of unique global development starting from India, and bidirectional fusion between Japan and overseas,” all of the Company’s executives visited India in FY2024 to inspect local operations and review the status of risk management while exchanging opinions with local staff. Experiencing the growth of our business in India firsthand was extremely stimulating. Interaction between the Head Office and local Indian members also helped deepen mutual understanding. Moving forward, we will allocate resources to push forward the expansion of our business model in India to other countries, including Brazil, over the course of the Medium-term Management Plan.
Looking finally at the fourth priority theme, “Business strategy–linked employee growth and strengthening of the management base,” I truly believe that a culture that welcomes challenge has been reinforced. For example, more and more employees are actively seeking the positions of manager and general manager through accelerated promotion and raising their hands for assignment to affiliated companies to broaden their experience. Credit Saison is actively encouraging employees to obtain qualifications through classroom-based study, including securities broker representative and IT passport, fostering a culture of self-improvement and learning.

Our understanding of pending issues

COO Despite our extremely positive results in FY2024, I recognize the need to adapt to a changing business environment.
The return to a world with interest rates is a prime example of this change. As a company that has operated under the norm of zero interest rates for many years, rising rates have significantly altered our funding environment, adding hundreds of millions to billions of yen to annual costs. However, as someone who joined the Company directly from school, Credit Saison has overcome business crises of far greater magnitude. Having recently surpassed the profit record set 18 years ago, I am confident that we can leverage the strengths of our robust management foundation to address changes in our business environment going forward.
Another major change is the rapid evolution of AI over the past few years. While taking pride in our forward-looking efforts to promote digitalization, the sudden surge and proliferation of new technologies coupled with dramatic improvements in the precision of AI pose significant issues, most notably practical application in the Company’s operations. Against this backdrop, I am convinced that this particular issue is a matter of considerable urgency and recognize the critical need to position digitalization at the heart of our management policies if we are to survive and thrive. In particular, I feel that the digitalization of the corporate division, which consolidates and manages data from various departments, has lagged compared to business division implementation owing to the disparate issues between departments. As a result, we plan to accelerate data-driven decision-making and management.
Furthermore, certain risks, including valuation losses on investments in the global business’s Investment Business and sudden changes to overseas legal systems emerged in FY2024. We recognize that such unforeseen risks are part and parcel of doing business in emerging markets.

Our policy in FY2025

Despite continued progress in our structural reform endeavors in FY2024, plans are in place to review the Company’s assets in FY2025 while adapting to a world with interest rates. As a part of this review, we will consider divesting or reallocating assets that fail to reach a certain level of profitability. In this sense, we will pursue a selection and concentration policy in FY 2025 when deciding where to allocate management resources and what activities to discontinue, taking into consideration future potential as well as market conditions. I am confident that this review will help lay the foundation for future profit growth.

Fostering an organizational culture and engaging in human capital management

COO Human resources and the Company’s corporate culture that our employees help to shape generate value that is difficult to quantify. Unlike the period during which we were solely dependent on our Payment Business, our workforce has become increasingly diverse as the scope of our business has expanded into the finance, global, and related fields. In recent years, roughly one-third of the employees hired were new graduates, with the remainder recruited for their existing technological and finance expertise. Rather than prevent disparate values from entering the Company, we are refining our strengths through a process of mutual respect and recognition. I make it a point to personally meet with mid-career recruits and ask that they not abandon their existing values and freely share what it was like in their previous companies. While preserving the important aspects of our corporate culture that we have consistently upheld, I recognize that there are parts that should continue to evolve in line with changes in the market and environment.
The diversity of our human resources is also evident in the makeup of our Board of Directors. I am, for example, the only member who joined Credit Saison straight from school as a regular employee. Board members freely voice their opinions and engage in lively debate. This ability to draw on multifaceted perspectives allows us to find the optimal solution.
Dialogue with employees is also one area on which I have particularly focused. On numerous occasions each year, I make it a point to communicate directly with employees the business challenges that we face and the course that we hope to take over the medium term. These face-to-face meetings are an opportunity to bridge the gap between management and the front line. Naturally, the directors and general managers in charge of each business also convey a uniform message. As such, I believe that management issues and our medium-term direction is well shared throughout the Company as a whole. For example, should you ask what is a key management issue today, the uniform answer will be rising interest rates. I am convinced that this unity with the front line is a significant strength.
Human resources are the cornerstone of our business foundation. As I look to the future, I will work to expand the return of profits not only to shareholders but also employees, focusing especially on improving compensation. In FY2024, the Company paid an across the board financial bonus to all employees of just under ¥1 million. I believe that this payment encouraged many employees to pay closer attention to the Company’s performance and that the amount made an impact both internally and externally. The next step is to allow for base pay increases. In his 2025 New Year’s address, Chairman Rinno announced that he hoped to lift the Company’s average annual salary to ¥10 million. I too am committed to achieving this target and will endeavor to establish a system that allows us to generously reward employees who are particularly dedicated and hardworking.

Enhancing our governance structure

Members of the Board of Directors engage in lively debate while commenting on and asking questions from a variety of perspectives about the explanations provided by executive officers. While witnessing a certain degree of turnover since 2025, I feel that Board’s effectiveness has increased.
Corporate governance is an ongoing endeavor with no fixed end goal. While certain institutional investors have shared their opinions about our current structure largely driven by Chairman Rinno and myself, I am confident that this very structure is a key factor that allows us to secure an effective governance function with execution entrusted to me. I believe that the benefits to accrue from my unique position as the only Board member with firsthand knowledge of the Company’s history, coupled with the networks that only Chairman Rinno can provide, are plentiful. Moving forward, I hope to maintain this structure as a source of corporate value.

A message for stakeholders

I strongly believe that the record profits of FY2024 are a reflection of the substantial transformation of our portfolio from the days when we were solely dependent on our Payment Business. Having said this, I also believe that Credit Saison is only part way through its growth journey. My expectations toward the Global Business, which is exhibiting remarkable growth, are especially high given its unlimited potential. After a decade-long period of preparation, I feel that the Global Business is finally taking shape. I am confident that we can accelerate growth even further over the next decade.
Meanwhile, Credit Saison’s PBR currently stands below 1 times and is below its book value. As a result of the steady progress made in structural reforms and our capital strategy, we are already in sight of the targets set for the final fiscal year of the Medium-term Management Plan—¥100 billion in business profit and an ROE of 9.5% —in the first fiscal year. As far as the Company’s PBR is concerned, we plan to steadfastly address those aspects that are within our control and move closer to our target through continuous hard work.
While welcoming the expectations of stakeholders, I humbly ask for your continued understanding and support over the long term.

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