Social
We aim to help maintain and expand a sound consumer finance market through activities such as financial economic education programs to help people acquire ac
Customer Oriented
Setting loan limits reflecting
We endeavor to set loan limits not simply to comply with the Money Lending Business Act and other laws and regulations, but rather to ensure that customers do not overstretch themselves with their repayments. We determine an appropriate loan amount based on the loan amount calculated by our independently developed Automated Credit Provision System and the judgment of loan managers.
Screening at Customer Service Center
Making it easy for customers to seek advice
To relieve customer's money concerns, we offer a range of related services, including advice on borrowing, repayments and other financial matters, referring customers to specialists depending on their circumstances, and providing support with family budget diagnosis.
Initiatives to improve service with a commitment to the customer-first approach
For fiscal 2022, we have adopted the basic policy of “striving to earn and improve customer loyalty by steadfastly pursuing CX” to exceed customer expectations, and are committed to strengthening CX initiatives through concerted company-wide efforts to promote effective CS and CX activities.
Transformation from customer satisfaction into activities that create emotional experiences for customers
As for initiatives to improve services that pursue the customer-first approach, since January 2015 we have listed ideas, initiatives and customer feedback leading to CS and CX improvements in our web-based internal newsletter.For the proposals developed based on the customer feedback employees field from customers, related departments coordinate to consider improvements in an effort to improve service. By sharing regular customer feedback across the company including with top management, we develop a feel for the immediate priorities of customers, and to exceed their expectations we consider the role of customer service and work to respond promptly.
CSR Activities
Financial Education Programs
We are working to make financial economic education more widespread, so that local residents and students who are the future leaders of society will be able to acquire accurate knowledge of money matters and make appropriate decisions.
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Seminar at a university
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Lecture at an elementary school
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Seminar for high school students
Since 2011, PROMISE financial and economic educational seminars have been held to improve the financial literacy of students holding the key to the future and members of the community, primarily at our customer service plazas located throughout Japan. Over 1.55 million people nationwide have taken part in the seminars to date. (Total number of seminar attendees as of June 30, 2023) Since 2020, in addition to visiting schools and companies to conduct lectures at their request, we have also been using web conferencing systems to hold live interactive seminars.
Coexisting with regional communities
Our Customer Service Plazas act as centers for regional communication. We make a positive contribution to life in the regions in which we do business and help revitalize them by actively engaging regional communities, listening to their needs, and working together with the people that live in these communities.
CSR Activities
Yakusoku-no-Mori matching gift program
The internal fund-raising system Yakusoku-no-Mori* has been set up as a scheme that allows employees to think about and participate in contributing to society in a more familiar way. Through the scheme, we provide support for children's welfare facilities (Japan National Council of Children's Homes), children's self-reliance living assistance services (National Council of Self-Reliance Support Homes) and projects to raise hearing dogs (The Japan Hearing Dogs for Deaf People). We have also installed donation-oriented vending machines in the company that use a portion of proceeds to support Japan Hearing Dogs for Deaf People as part of ongoing support activities.
* Matching donation scheme where employees determine the destination and monthly amount of donations.
Donation by Yakusoku-no-Mori (FY2022)
Project | Cumulative total |
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Foster home promotion services | 1,684,960 Yen |
Children's Independent Living Support Project | 1,396,100 Yen |
The Hearing Assistance Dog Training Project | 1,799,218 Yen |
Introduction of the TABLE FOR TWO program
At the employee cafeteria in our head office building, we have introduced TABLE FOR TWO (“TFT”), a social contribution activity made in 20-yen increments. Each time an employee pays an extra 20 yen on top of an employee cafeteria purchase, that amount pays for one school lunch donated to children in developing countries through the NPO TABLE FOR TWO International. The TFT program has also been introduced at SMBC Group companies.
Assistance for areas affected by large-scale disasters
We implement measures to alleviate financial anxiety experienced by victims of large-scale disasters, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes, and major rainstorms in July 2020. For example, we provide loan repayment assistance, adjustments of repayment terms, or reductions or waivers of principal and/or interest payments based on the individual circumstances of victims. We also provide interest-free support loans for a fixed period until victims are able to rebuild their lives. In April 2020, we also introduced a repayment support system to help people whose incomes were impacted by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sponsored Activities
We also devote our efforts to sponsoring educational and cultural activities and events, driven by our desire to help create a vibrant society in which people can enjoy happy and healthy lives.
Educational and cultural activities
Inaugurated in 1996, the Promise Essay Contest (sponsored by The Sankei Shimbun and co-sponsored by SMBC Consumer Finance) is based on the concept of taking another look at the importance of human relationships in modern society and life in order to rediscover the importance of promises. The 27th contest in 2022 attracted over 6,500 entries from people across a wide range of age groups. The contest is highly regarded in the educational community because of its contribution to the improvement of Japanese language education and essay-writing skills. It is especially popular with junior and senior high school students, and many schools submit group entries.
Sports and Events
In an effort to achieve regional revitalization through cooperation in events and sports promotion and a boost for young people who will forge the future, we are sponsoring table tennis competitions where Japanese athletes have performed well in recent years. We also sponsor Kawasaki Frontale, a professional soccer team.
Workplace Environment
Diversity initiatives
Message from the President
The Two "Samas" and Diversity & Inclusion
I believe that the two everyday Japanese phrases otagai sama meaning 'the same goes for me' and okage sama meaning 'thanks to you' are important. SMBC Consumer Finance has a very diverse workforce. All of us have our strengths and weaknesses and none of us are perfect. One person's strength complements another's weakness. And when one thing complements another, something better is produced. Everyone also has a different personality. When such diverse personalities work together, they make a strong team, producing better results and leading to a better society. For our sustainable growth also, diversity is essential, providing the momentum for growth. Which is why we all go about our work, covering for each other, encouraging each other when things get tough and being open to diversity. It is also important to show appreciation by saying thank you or through your actions, rather than locking your feelings of gratitude away inside yourself. The presence of someone different from yourself helps you see things from their perspective and makes you different. To understand each other, we must first show understanding for diversity by saying otagai sama (the same goes for me) and show appreciation for diversity by saying okage sama (thanks to you). I firmly believe that this is precisely what is meant by diversity & inclusion and that when diverse employees accept each other, this leads to innovation and contributes to the sustainable growth and development of society and business.
SMBC Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. Ryohei Kaneko, President & Representative Director
Support for the career advancement of women
Around half of our employees are women and the career advancement of women is an important theme which is crucial for diversity & inclusion at SMBC Consumer Finance. We are focusing on systems that help women balance work and life and make it easier for them to continue working and strive to develop an environment for the provision of long-term career support. We are also implementing management development initiatives such as enhanced training programs to encourage managers to challenge themselves to achieve further personal growth.
Career training for women
We provide a training program to encourage women to overcome issues faced specifically by women at each stage of their career, right through from young employees to management level.
Support for work-life balance
To accommodate the diverse lifestyles of our employees, we have systems to support work-life balance to suit the individual circumstances of employees, including childcare and nursing care commitments.
Holding of work-life balance seminars
Every year, we hold the Work-Life Balance Seminar to support employees who are balancing work and childcare. The seminar program is intended to allay various concerns about balancing work and childcare, including explanations of the personnel systems available, useful information for finding nursery schools for children and case studies introducing the work styles of more senior employees. The seminars are attended not only by employees who are currently pregnant or on childcare leave but also employees who are considering having a child in the future. As the number of male employees taking child care leave increases, seminar participation by male employees is also on the rise.
Initiatives to encourage male employees to take part in child care
The Personnel Department sends information about our systems to support work-life balance along with a congratulatory message to male employees who have recently become fathers and their line managers. By providing support to male employees who are involved in child care, we are working to create an environment in which employees can choose a workstyle which fits in with their lifestyle.
Key systems to support work-life balance
- Child care leave system Our employees can take leave of up to 18 months, which exceeds the statutory leave of 12 months.
- Short working hour system Employees with elementary school-aged children or younger can take advantage of the short working hour system and can choose to work between five hours and seven hours (actual working time; with time added in 30-minute increments) per day.
- Nursing care leave system Employees can take leave of up to 155 days, which exceeds the statutory leave of 93 days.
- Personnel change grace period system Employees are allowed a period of grace for any personnel change associated with their relocation for child care or nursing care reasons.
- Geographical mobility opt-out system Employees can take advantage of this system if they wish to work in a specific region for the foreseeable future due to their private circumstances (having or raising a child).
Support for the active participation of elderly human capital
Main balance support system
We hold training for elderly employees who have reached a certain age to allay concerns after re-employment at mandatory retirement age and to increase their own understanding of their new role. The training program gets participants to think about their careers after re-employment at mandatory retirement age through consideration of future workstyles, discussions with senior employees and messages from senior management. The active participation of elderly workers has huge potential upsides for both society and for SMBC Consumer Finance and is increasingly important. We are working on support measures including holding training and reviewing systems, aiming to create a workplace environment where elderly employees can continue working with vitality.
Work style reform
Telework
On April 1, 2020, we introduced telework (excludes business operations which involve handling customer information), with the dual aims of "realization of diversity through the creation of a workplace environment that allows employees to choose their work style" and "improvement of productivity". We encourage our employees to work remotely, not only at their own homes but also at satellite offices, which we subsidize the cost of.
Elimination of long working hours
We aim to improve the work-life balance through measures to eliminate long working hours such as months when we enforce no overtime days and the adoption of RPA based on BPR activities to increase business efficiency.
Relaxation of dress code
To realize a comfortable working environment, we have a relaxed dress code and employees can dress as they wish provided they take the time, the place, and the occasion into consideration and are presentable.
Activities to raise awareness about diversity
Appointment of diversity promotion officers
Every department has a diversity promotion officer who implements initiatives to change employee perceptions about diversity and provide opportunities for the active participation of diverse human resources.
Unconscious bias training
We provide e-learning training on the theme of unconscious bias, which is important in a workplace where employees with diverse values, attributes and lifestyles work together, ensuring that the training can be accessed by employees at any time.
Human capital development
Development framework
SMBC Consumer Finance sees employees as "human capital" and believes in "supporting personal growth." As such, we are actively focusing on employee training in line with three training policies. We are also concentrating our efforts on the development of human capital "capable of sensing current needs based on changes and trends in the internal and external environment, carefully considering necessary action, and rising to the challenge of our transformation for the creation of new value."
Training policies
- Provide training tailored to career needs
- Encourage employees to develop skills
- Provide ongoing training for the career advancement of diverse employees
Training framework
Skills development
For the sustainable development of the company, we encourage employees to develop their skills to adapt to changes in the internal and external environment. More specifically, we are working on various measures to promote the career advancement of diverse human capital, including building competency to learn knowledge and skills required to adapt to the external environment, selective training to systematically develop leaders, career development and work style reform.
Self- development
We implement open-access training and measures to support self-development and the gaining of qualifications to support employees who want to learn flexibly. More specifically, we provide open-access training and online training, and resources such as SMBC Business School and SMBC Group Joint Seminars to enable employees to master the knowledge and skills they wish to learn flexibly in order to advance their own careers. We have also introduced the SMBC Group Learning Management System (SMBC Group eCampus) to strengthen online learning. Through the company-wide implementation of measures to support employees in gaining the "Chief of Money Lending Operations" qualification, which is key for those working in the money lending business, and through the establishment of a system to subsidize the cost of gaining qualifications, we seek to improve the value of our human capital.
Implementation of Health & Productivity Management
SMBC Consumer Finance enacted the “Health & Produtivity Management Declaration” on October 1, 2019 to maintain and improve the health of its employees, who are its greatest asset, and their families. At the same time , we elected a Chief Health Officer to better ensure implementation of health & productivity management.
Health & Productivity Declaration Statement
SMBC Consumer Finance is committed to “Health & Productivity Management”, to enable every employee to continue working energetically in good physical and mental health and delivering customer-oriented services for the realization of its Vision for the Future: Aiming to become a highly trustworthy global consumer finance company. SMBC Consumer Finance also declares that it is working closely with its health insurance society to actively encourage employees and their familiies to take the initative and maintain and improve their own health.
Election of Chief Health Officer (October 1, 2019) Chief Health Officer: President and Representative Director
Health & Productivity Management Implementation Framework
We have assigned members of the Human Resources Department to four sites: the Head Office (Tokyo), Toyocho (Tokyo), Kyobashi (Osaka) and Gofukumachi (Fukuoka), to take charge of the health & productivity management of employees, and we have also established a Health & Productivity Office at each site and appointed occupational health staff such as occupational health physicians and public health nurses. Our Safety and Health Committee, Human Resources Department, occupational health staff and health insurance society are collaborating with each other and working alongside the Chief Health Officer and Health Officer to implement health & productivity management.
Health & Productivity Management Meetings
The Chief Health Officer, Health Officer, occupational health staff, the health insurance society, the General Manager of the Human Resources Department and the Human Resources Department secertariat hold Health & Productivity Management Meetings to identify issues concerning employees’ health and to determine health & productivity management KPIs, policy initiatives and measures.
Health & Productivity Management Implementation Policy
We aim to be a wellbeing company where employees can work with enthusiasm and energy. ・Our employees shall physically, mentally and socially healthy.
Goals
❶ KPIs
❷ Key Measures
Health & Productivity Management Strategy Map
Recognized as “Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (Large Enterprise Category)”
In March 2022, SMBC Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. was recognized as a “Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization (Large Enterprise Category)” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan and the Nippon Kenko Kaigi.
Efforts to increase the employee satisfaction level
We are taking steps to not only increase the customer satisfaction level, but also create a working environment with a high employee satisfaction level. We are also striving to achieve a work-life balance for employees by supporting their life events and work at the same time, through measures such as introducing region-specific jobs and work in a reduced schedule, providing information to employees who have taken maternity leave and childcare leave, and holding a support seminar for return to work. For employees who wish to focus on self-improvement, we have also introduced correspondence courses to help them acquire qualifications such as the head of money lending operations and improve their skills. We are also enhancing the quantity and quality of welfare program menus by introducing a cafeteria plan*1, for example, in which employees can use the welfare program in step with changes in their lifestyles. To strengthen the EAP*2 system, we are developing a range of activities, including responses to leaves of absence and return to work, the planning and promotion of mental health education, the enhancement of cooperation with industrial doctors and industrial health staff, the establishment of a healthcare room and the holding of safety and health committee meetings.
*1 Cafeteria plan: A welfare program operation method by which points are granted to eligible employees each year so that they can choose and use the predetermined menus within the range of points granted. *2 EAP: Employee Assistance Program