To quickly identify and deal with compliance violations and the like, each Group company has established internal reporting hotlines within its compliance management department and at a designated external law firm. We have also set up an internal reporting hotline outside the Company exclusively for financial product sales.
From the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021 onward, the Group has been working to make improvements to the internal reporting system so that employees can actively offer feedback with confidence and peace of mind. This initiative is based on the recognition that employees’ voices are an asset, and employees who raise their voices are also valuable assets.

First, we repeatedly sent out senior management’s messages to spread the Group’s basic understanding while building mechanisms to protect whistleblowers, such as restricting the scope of reported information to be shared and preparing rules to thoroughly protect the whistleblowers. In September 2021, a one-stop consultation and internal reporting platform was established as a portal site to accept various types of reports and consultations in an integrated manner, allowing employees to securely communicate with the person in charge at the contact point. We have also introduced a system where an external team of lawyers and other experts (team of external experts) conduct the entire process of internal reporting, from receiving the report to investigating and reporting the results of the investigation.

In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, we actively promoted further use of this system through various approaches. For example, the team of external experts started taking cases via phone and email to offer more reporting and consultation methods. Also, staff members at the Whistleblowing System Management Office (Compliance Department, Japan Post Holdings), which is in charge of the system, organized an awareness caravan, visiting workplaces in the Group companies to directly speak to employees about how to use the system and how whistleblowers would be protected.
These drastic efforts for improvements have led to a growing number of employees using this system: A total of 4,125 reports were made across the Group in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, an 80% increase from the previous fiscal year and around twice as many as the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 before the improvement efforts started.

In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, we will further enhance the convenience of this system by, for example, starting phone-based reporting and consultation also at the in-house contact points. Moreover, Japan Post Holdings and Japan Post are introducing an administrative appeal review system, where fair and objective third parties review complaints related to individual reports and consultations, to ensure proper operation of the whistleblowing system.
Administrative Appeal Review Board members (Japanese)［PDF：64KB］

Also, while protecting the confidentiality of whistleblowers, employee feedback received through the internal reporting system will be used not only to correct individual cases but also to detect potential risks at an early stage as well as to improve business operations, procedures, and the workplace environment, etc. Through these efforts, we strive to fulfill a self-cleansing function throughout the organization.

We are committed to further improving the Group’s internal reporting system while receiving third parties’ objective evaluation on its effectiveness, aiming to enable more employees to feel comfortable using the system. Also, by disclosing the results of system use in a timely and appropriate manner, we will promote the Group management based on compliance to enhance our corporate value.