We aim to help maintain and expand a sound consumer finance market through activities such as financial economic education programs to help people acquire accurate knowledge of money matters and enable them to make appropriate decisions.
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.
Seminar at a university
Lecture at an elementary school
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 1.40 million people nationwide have
taken part in the seminars to date. (Total number of seminar attendees as of March 31, 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.
Setting loan limits reflecting customer's
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.
The Realization of a Lively Society and a Happy and Healthy Lifestyle for People
As members of society, SMBC Consumer Finance and all its employees participate in activities to brighten up people's lives.
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.
Booth at a local festival
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
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.
Promoting Earth-friendly Environmental Activities
As a member of the SMBC Group, SMBC Consumer Finance aims to help preserve the global environment by instilling a strong environmental awareness among its employees, and promoting environmentally friendly activities.
As part of SMBC Group, the company will aim to ensure that its individual employees have a high level of environmental awareness, and will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.
The company promises to proceed with business activities by taking into account effects on the environment.
The company is aware of environmental risks and will fulfill its social responsibility through initiatives such as saving resources, conserving energy, reducing waste and preventing pollution, based on compliance with environment-related laws, ordinances and regulations, etc.
The company will aim to continuously improve its environment management system by making tangible the above-mentioned Policy, configuring environmental targets in each fiscal year, and conducting periodic reviews.
The company will make efforts to ensure that all employees understand the Policy and take part in in-house training.
The company will also disclose the Policy outside the company through official announcements on the company homepage, etc.
April 1, 2023
Ryohei Kaneko
President and Representative Director
SMBC Consumer Finance Co., Ltd.
Promoting digitalization and switching to LED lighting at branches
SMBC Consumer Finance works to improve customer convenience and reduce the use of paper resources by promoting digitalization (online account summary and card-less transactions by App Loan). We also undertake earth-conscious business activities by phasing in LED lighting when we open new branches and refurbish existing branches to save energy in-house.
Promoting digitalization
Switching to LED lighting at branches
Regional Beautification Initiatives
Our employees actively participate in activities to beautify the areas around each of our business units.
Cleaning up area around center
Cleaning up area around Head Office
Love Earth Clean Up (Fukuoka)
Promoting eco rules
We have established eco rules to realize sustainable society so that each employee is practicing an approach to energy saving and resource saving.
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