As Japan Post, we have provided a range of products and services, including universal postal, savings and insurance services, as part of the infrastructure for everyday life, building close relationships with local communities through our post offices all over Japan. It is our understanding that the services we provide are consistent with the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to "leave no one behind."

Ten years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and, in recent years, we have faced an increasingly uncertain and hostile environment, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the occurrence of large-scale disasters. Against this backdrop, Japan Post is committed to putting safety first and foremost in its business operations. There is no time to lose for initiatives to address ESG considerations, specifically environmental problems. Japan Post, with its many facilities and vehicles, has an important role in implementing initiatives to support carbon neutrality to realize a low carbon society.

The issues related to the solicitation quality of Japan Post insurance products caused significant disadvantages and inconvenience to those affected. On the milestone of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the postal service, we all are making a concerted effort as a company to regain customers' trust by looking back to its origins and to conduct customer-oriented business operations by reforming the corporate culture.

Going forward, we will continue to strive for sustainable growth and the creation of corporate value by leveraging our post office network and also cooperating with local governments and businesses to provide "lifelong" support in the 100-year life era and to support "local communities" across Japan.

In our Medium-term Management Plan that was announced publicly in May 2021, Japan Post Bank established four priority issues (Materiality) and target KPIs*, reaffirming our basic purpose to "create happiness for our customers and employees and contribute to the development of society and regional communities.

For our customers, we are providing "safe and secure" financial services through utilizing our nationwide network of post offices and ATMs as well as the strength of having Japan's largest banking customer base. Also, under the slogan of "deepening trust, and taking on the challenge of financial innovation," we are contributing to regional economic expansions by becoming a "Regional Financial Platform" built upon high-quality system infrastructure. As part of our environmental initiatives, we have set the goal of reducing our CO₂ emissions by 46% by FY2031/3 (compared to FY2020/3) in order to realize carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition to changing our power consumption to a form with a low CO2 emission factor, we will expand our ESG themed investment by fully utilizing Japan's largest deposit base. We are also engaging in continuous organizational culture reforms chiefly through our Service Improvement Committee, which is under the direct control of the President and Representative Executive Officer. This will lead to the strengthening of our customer-oriented business operations as well as the advancement of work style reforms and the sophistication of governance.

Japan Post Bank is accelerating initiatives to solve various social issues. Alongside contributing to a sustainable society, we will strive to listen to the voices of all our stakeholders and continue to be the most accessible and trustworthy bank in Japan.

• *Key Performance Indicator

The postal life insurance service, the Company's predecessor, was established in 1916 with the social mission to "protect the means of fundamental livelihood of the public through simple procedures." We inherited this founding philosophy of contributing to resolving social issues and have been playing a role in supporting people's lives through insurance for more than 100 years since then.

In our Medium-term Management Plan (FY2021 - FY2025) announced this fiscal year, we clarify our social mission to "protect customers' lives through the power of insurance by being trusted by them and remaining their choice." We have clearly set out in our sustainability policy that we aim to achieve sustainable growth and realize the SDGs by fulfilling this social mission and contributing to the resolution of social issues. In line with this policy, we intend to listen to the ideas and opinions of various stakeholders, including customers, shareholders and local communities and implement initiatives that will bring about sustainable improvement in our corporate value and contribute to the resolution of social issues through our business activities.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere condolences to all those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this COVID-19 crisis, we will continue steadfastly fulfilling our social mission as a life insurance company by paying various insurance claims, emergency handling and other necessary actions.