Message from the President

Building on Our Traditions to Pioneer a New Era
as a Regional Comprehensive Financial Services GroupThe Juroku Bank was founded in Gifu-shi by local merchants, industrialists, and landowners
in October 1877 as the 16th National Bank. The spirit of our corporate plaque, “Being
Integrity Brings Prosperity.” which was donated by Mr. Eiichi Shibusawa upon thecompletion of the former Head Office, has been handed down through generations of officers
and employees to the present day.
Building on more than 140 years of the history, we established the Juroku Financial Groupand transitioned to a holding company structure in October 2021, transforming our businessmodel to become a regional comprehensive financial services group. Today, the Group iscomposed of 12 companies, including Juroku Financial Group, Inc. and its core company, The
Juroku Bank, Ltd.

Naoki Ikeda
President (Representative Director)
Juroku Financial Group, Inc.

The environment surrounding the Group is undergoing substantial change against the
backdrop oftechnological advances and rising sustainability awareness, in addition to theissues faced by present-day society such as declining birthrates, the aging population, andlabor shortages. In this environment, the Group is endeavoring to expand its business domains
through “collaboration with other industries” and the “establishment of new companies.” We
are using these efforts as a base to engage in swift transformation under our Long-Term Vision“16Vision-10” and 2nd Medium-Term Management Plan “Staying Ahead of the Curve to
Always Serve the Region: First Stage,” launched in April 2023.
We will leverage the strength of the Group’s broad range of business domains to boldly andflexibly engage in tactical and behavioral Change, continue to take on Challenges aimed at theformation of sustainable local communities, and contribute to “achieving growth andprosperity for our customers and the local community” through proactive Communication
with all of our stakeholders. Through these endeavors, we aspire to evolve into a regional
comprehensive financial services group, building on our traditions to pioneer a new era.

Being Integrity Brings Prosperity.
This corporate plaque, painted and donated to The Juroku
Bank by Mr. Eiichi Shibusawa upon the completion of theformer Head Office in April 1931, is still displayed in theexecutive conference room today.
The words “Being Integrity Brings Prosperity.” (“junri
sokuyu” in Japanese) mean that living in accordance withreason and truth will lead to prosperity. They are known as Mr.
Shibusawa’s motto, and the Group’s employees have carefully
passed them down from generation to generation.

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JUROKU Financial Group ANNUAL REPORT 2024

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Utilizing the Holding Company to Transform the Business Model
More than two-and-a-half years have passed since theestablishment of Juroku Financial Group, Inc., and I feelthat we have made substantial progress on the threepillars we set forth at the time of its establishment: theexpansion of business domains, optimal allocation ofGroup management resources, and more sophisticatedgovernance.
Regarding the expansion of business domains, first ofall, we have been able to swiftly create operating
subsidiaries to address the issues faced by companies andlocal communities, such as DX, urban development, andmanagement succession. We have also actively pursued
alliances with highly specialized companies in otherindustries, generating substantial results. It is significant
that our partners are the top-class companies in theirindustries in Japan. It is only by establishing
relationships of trust that we are able to provide highquality services. In this era of transformation, staying“Staying Ahead of the Curve” enables us to win the trustof our customers. We will strive to leverage the knowhow we have acquired in new business domains to enable
our customers to understand the changes we have madeand gain a solid sense of our new value.

ext, regarding the optimal allocation of Groupmanagement resources, we introduced a new humanresources (HR) system in April 2023. At the same time,
all employees transferred to the holding company. By
introducing a system where employees declare “My
Vision” (what they aspire to be) and their“Commitment” (target) to achieve this vision, we haveenabled them to demonstrate their high individual
expertise and hidden talents beyond the limits of thebanking business. Our business domains have expanded,giving our diverse workforce more opportunities to play
an active role in the region. We will listen to each
employee’s aspirations for the kind of contributions theywant to make to the region and support them in taking
challenges.
Regarding more sophisticated governance, in FY2023,
we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of theBoard of Directors through the involvement of a thirdparty agency, confirming that the Board of Directors is
operating appropriately. We hope to continue to improve
the quality of decision-making by incorporating thevarious views and perspectives of members from diverse
backgrounds, aiming to further enhance corporate value.

Cultivating a “Growth-oriented” Mindset
The reform of employees’ mindset is essential to theimplementation of these three “C”s. Customer trust is
our starting point: it supports all of our activities. To
build relationships of trust with our customers, it is vitalfor all our employees to be highly motivated to engage
in thorough dialogue with customers. To maintain thishigh level of motivation, it is crucial that each individual
employee develops a positive, “growth-oriented”
mindset. With the return of positive interest rates,
especially, we must display the “leadership” to constantly
scrutinize shifts in the external environment and stand at
the forefront of reform, as well as the “management” toensure we realize the goals of our own departments. At
the same time, through “human resources development”
to support these endeavors, we must cultivate a “growthoriented” mindset within our organization. To this end,
one of the first things we did this year was to establish“leadership workshops” for middle-management
employees such as branch managers of The Juroku Bankand the corporate officers of Group companies. ThroughSeniormanagement

Staying Ahead of the Curve: the Four “C”s
In this era of increasing uncertainty, we are looked upon
to prove our true value as a regional financial institution.
Under the new business model we have launchedthrough the Group’s transition to a holding company
structure, we will assess and identify shifts in thebusiness environment as we boldly and flexibly engage
in tactical and behavioral Change, constantly seize theinitiative to take on new Challenges to address anManagers andmiddle-managers

unpredictable future, and aim for proactive
Communication with our customers and between our
employees. Through a resolute and unified Group-wide
approach to these three “C”s, we will capture our Chance
to stay ahead of the curve, steadily advancing as aregional comprehensive financial services group thatserves the region as a frontrunner in the local communityand society.

Assistant Manager andgeneral employees

six sessions of lectures, group work, and presentations,
we have been able to unify the direction of the Group’s
vision while also establishing a structure that will enable
us to focus on our core business as Japanese society
returns to a world of positive interest rates.

LeadershipManagement

Constantly scrutinize
shifts in the external
environment and standat the forefront of reform

Ensure we realize
the goals of ourown departments“Growth-oriented” Mindset

New employees

Human resources
development

Prospective employees

Create an organization that
supports leadershipand management

Assess and identify shifts in the business environment as we boldly
and flexibly engage in tactical and behavioral Change

Change

Seize

Challenge

ChanceConstantly seize the initiative to take on
new Challengestoaddress an unpredictable future03

JUROKU Financial Group ANNUAL REPORT 2024

The Group’s Growth Strategy

throughthe 3 “C”s!

Communication

Proactive Communication with ourcustomers and between our employees

The Group’s growth strategy is to focus on allocating
management resources to our core business, includingloans and deposits, where we have a competitive
advantage and can grow independently. At the sametime, for businesses anticipated to experience increasing
demand from local communities in the future, we willachieve growth without expending costs or time,engaging in alliances and mergers across all industry
sectors. A customer-first marketing approach will be
crucial to demonstrate the true value of our corebusiness: we must engage in thorough dialogue with ourcustomers to ascertain the needs and issues they face andprovide them with high-value-added services to addressthese needs. We will endeavor to deepen our corebusiness through the broad, deep customer basedeveloped by The Juroku Bank over more than 140 years
in business while also reaping the maximum returns
from the know-how accumulated by Group companies innew business domains, to achieve Group-wide integrated
sales activities for our core business. With the return ofpositive interest rates, we aim to know our customers aswell as we know ourselves, by giving attention to,connecting with, and closely supporting them.

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The Group’s Growth Strategy

Initiatives for Enhancing Corporate Value

Securities

Tokai Tokyo
Financial Holdings

Businesses anticipated
to experience
increasing demand
from local
communities in
the future

Businesses where theGroup has a competitive
advantage and can growindependently

RetailResona Group

Focus on loans and othercore business areas

Focused allocation ofmanagement resources

Alliances and mergers acrossall industries

Digitalization

Densan System Holdings
Co., Ltd.
DXSoftBank
Business succession

Nihon M&A Center
Holdings

Reduce costs and time,
growing throughthe insightof other enterprises

Providing High Added
Value
Businesses where
the through Alliances with Other Industries
Group has a competitive<Earnestly engaging in important,issuesadvantagepressing
and can growfor the region>
independently
In July 2023, we established NOBUNAGA Succession
Inc., a joint venture with Nihon M&A Center Holdings
Inc., to support management succession among small
and medium-sized enterprises in the region. Gifu
Prefecture, where the rates of population decline andaging exceed the national average, is seeing a marked
increase in the number of enterprises closing down as
their representatives get old and no successor isforthcoming. The potential management succession
needs are limitless. We have avoided using the word
“Juroku” in the company name and separated it from thebusiness operations of the Bank itself, to enable us tostay close to the sentiments of business managers who
might find it difficult to talk about succession issues
with a bank they borrow from on a daily basis. We
connect the deep and heartfelt wishes of business
managers with people who love the region and will
earnestly engage in managing their enterprises.
<Providing high-quality financial services
unprecedented in the region>
In February 2024, we launched a new alliance with theResona Group in the retail field. We aim to leverage ourmutual know-how to make maximum use of thestrength of both corporate groups. In fall 2024, The
Juroku Bank will begin to offer a mutual fund wrap as
we endeavor to enhance our support for customers’ asset
formation. In spring 2025, we plan to launch a banking
app. The banking app offered by Resona Group,
especially, is well evaluated by users and boasts
significant competitive advantages. Utilizing this app as
our own product is expected to enable us to capture
customers across all demographics in the region. We
envisage an era when our customers will carry around
The Juroku Bank in their pockets, as an app on their05

JUROKU Financial Group ANNUAL REPORT 2024

smartphones. In addition to optimizing management
resources while reducing the cost and duration ofinternal development, we will be able to provide ourcustomers with higher-quality financial services,
unprecedented in the region.

<Boosting productivity to optimize the creativity of
our employees>
In collaboration with SoftBank, we are striving to
improve the operational efficiency and productivity of
the Group’s officers and employees through DX, withthe aim of achieving a virtuous cycle for our corebusiness. Through the full cooperation of five SoftBank
employees, including employees at the level of generalmanager and deputy general manager, who have been
seconded to the Group, The Juroku Bank introduced the
new groupware Google Workspace (GWS) in September
2023. In March 2024, we went on to unify groupware
across all 12 Group companies. We are taking up thechallenge to bring about “true reform” by reinventing
the way we communicate. The Start-up Support Hub“STATION Ai” (the largest incubator facility in Japan),operated by a subsidiary of SoftBank, will commence
operation in Aichi Prefecture in October 2024. Throughour connection with SoftBank, we have dispatched one
employee from the Group to this facility, starting in
April 2024. NOBUNAGA Capital Village, the Group’s
dedicated investment company, has held events
including three consultation sessions in the STATION
Ai facility since October 2023 in preparation for its
opening. We are strengthening our contact points withthe promising start-up companies gathering in Aichi
Prefecture from across Japan. We will actively cooperatewith these start-ups to jumpstart the creation of global
innovations from Aichi Prefecture.

We endeavor to engage in constructive dialogue withshareholders and investors with the aim of achieving
sustainable growth for the Group and enhancing its
medium- and long-term corporate value. In FY2023, we
focused on creating more contact points withstakeholders, holding a total of 30 small meetings andone-on-one meetings, twice as many as in the previous
fiscal year. The requests received through this dialogue
were reported to the Board of Directors and otherrelevant bodies, which discussed future initiatives toenhance corporate value.
Based on these discussions, we amended ourshareholder returns policy from a “total payout ratio of atleast 25%” to a “dividend payout ratio of at least 30%,”
aiming for more substantial shareholder returns. In
addition to achieving our sixth consecutive fiscal year of
profit growth, we raised our dividends for the fifth
consecutive fiscal year. As a result, total dividends havemore than doubled over the past five years, and thenumber of shareholders is also increasing steadily. In
FY2023, we also reduced our cross-shareholdings at afaster pace than planned under the Reduction Policy of
Cross-shareholdings. At the same time, we are actively
engaged in climate change countermeasures, including
enhancing our disclosure based on the TCFD
recommendations and bringing forward our target for
carbon neutrality from 2050 to 2030.

Looking ahead, we aim to ensure a consolidated ROE
of 5% or more. Higher ROE is crucial to improving
PBR, and we intend to utilize the capital invested in theGroup by our shareholders to grow our businesses in themedium and long term.
In addition to demonstrating the true value of ourcore business amid the return of positive interest rates, it
is important that we steadily boost revenues from a
medium- and long-term perspective. We will do this byactively implementing measures such as investments
linked to the Group’s growth, including alliances withother industries, and investments aimed at businessstreamlining through DX. To accomplish this, it isessential that we procure stable deposits from ourcustomers in the region. We will therefore also ensure weachieve our target capital adequacy ratio, which is ameasure of financial stability and soundness. I believe it
as my personal role and responsibility to clearly set forthand steadily implement a roadmap to achieve thisenhancement of corporate value.

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Backing Employees to Undertake Diverse Challenges
One year and three months have passed since weintroduced our first new HR system in 22 years,transferring all our employees to the holding company as
we aim to optimize Group management resources. As aresult, the Group’s management philosophy has
penetrated more thoroughly through our workforce. Bylooking back over their progress from the time when
they joined the Group to the present, employees havegained more opportunities to think deeply about how
they can contribute to our customers and the region, andact on this awareness. Our emphasis on integrated Groupmanagement has encouraged employees to perceive
secondment to non-bank Group companies, which
previously had a negative image, in a positive light.
When establishing several new companies, we have
utilized the in-house open recruitment system to enable
employees to take a career challenges in a broad range ofbusiness domains. For example, in response to openings
for around 10 employees each for the companies we have
set up in recent years, we received 48 applications for
Juroku Densan Digital Service Co., Ltd., 83 applications
for Kanda Machiokoshi Co., Ltd., and 61 applications for
NOBUNAGA Succession Inc. These numbers bear
witness to the high degree of interest among employees.
Upon seeking the values common to our employees,
we found that many employees “hope to continue to livein the region they were born and raised in.” In otherwords, many employees joined the Group because theywanted to work in the local area. The common quality
shared by these employees is a passionate desire to “behelpful to the region.” We will provide strategic support
to enable the employees with this desire to utilize theirindividuality in autonomously taking challenges for theregion.
Additionally, from the perspective of D&I and under a“positive evaluation” approach, supervisors have become
receptive to the aspirations and individuality of theirsubordinates and engage in two-way dialogue that
extends beyond work to include matters such as hobbies,
special skills, and social contribution activities, whichenable them to achieve rich lives as members of society
and consumers in the region. This change in employees’
way of interacting with their supervisors can also becited as a result of our new HR system. Going forward,
we will continue to cultivate an organizational culturethat enables each individual to play a highly motivated,
active role.

Leading the Region with the Appointment of a Female Career Employee as a Director
The Group has actively promoted women to
management positions and systematically engaged inhuman resources development for female leaders
expected to rise to management positions in the future.
As part of these efforts, we appointed a female career
employee to the position of Director and Executive
Officer in June this year, the first such promotion by aregional bank in the Tokai region. This female Director
has advanced knowledge and executive ability withregard to sustainability and other issues. Her
involvement in decision-making is expected to facilitate
the generation of innovative ideas and creative solutions
from the female perspective, enhancing corporate
performance. Her presence as a role model will also serve

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JUROKU Financial Group ANNUAL REPORT 2024

as a great encouragement for young female employees,
embodying their future aspirations and leading to thedevelopment of a mindset focused on working in theGroup over the long term.
By increasing the forums for female participation andadvancement, companies are able to boost the vitality of
their entire organizations. In this region, where thedeclining population has become an issue, theparticipation and advancement of women, especially, isessential. By creating environments that make it easierfor female employees to build their careers, we hope tocontribute to the sustainable development of local
communities.

Group-wide Participation in Gifu Prefecture’s Largest Sporting Event
Each year, the Group is involved as a major sponsor in
The Takahashi Naoko Cup / Gifu Half Marathon. A totalof 107 runners participated in this year’s race, andapproximately 1,000 employees and family members
participated as volunteers and supporters. In 2017, the140th anniversary of the founding of The Juroku Bank,
all the Directors ran with the aim of completing thecourse. Ever since then, I have personally participatedeach year as a runner. I have a lot of fun interacting withour business partners and other acquaintances along theway.

The race is an important event for nurturing a sense ofregional solidarity through sport. It is also a perfectopportunity for visitors from outside the prefecture tounderstand the goodness of Gifu. The Group’s runners
wore T-shirts imprinted with an image of “Juroku’s
Momo,” played by the actress Momoko Fukuchi in our
corporate commercials. They ran with the message “Let’s
create the future of our beloved town” on their backs.
Our volunteers and supporters, wearing orange T-shirts,
the color of the Juroku Financial Group, delivered smiles
and cries of encouragement to the runners as the “Region
energize team”
I feel that this participation in a major local event
made many employees aware of just how wonderful it isto place oneself amid the scenery of this region. It’s
important for the officers and employees of a financial
institution rooted and active in the region to experience
first-hand the values of running and supporting runners
in the region where they were born and where theirfriends and family are. Therein lies the significance of
our Group-wide participation in this event, which beganwith all the Directors entering as runners.

Towards Realizing a Sustainable City
The Juroku Bank will celebrate its 150th anniversary in
2027. In this milestone year, we plan to construct a newheadquarters building, the “16FG Office & Park.” Thisis an extremely important project that will embody theGroup’s management philosophy of “achieving growthand prosperity for our customers and the local
community.” The project is based on two main concepts.
The first is the creation of a “beautiful and comfortablecommon space” to provide added value to everyone in
the region. The second is to establish a base with a“workplace that is ahead of its time,” centralizing ourheadquarters functions to enable an integrated Groupwide business promotion system. The first to third floors
will feature an atrium, where we plan to build a roofedpark filled with natural light and breeze. We aim tocreate a stylish space for nature and people to gather: thekind that will live on in the memory as, for example, aplace one used to visit on the way home from highschool. We are also considering making this a smart
office building. Although I’m not sure how much wewill be able to achieve, I would like to endeavor to create
an attractive workplace utilizing digital and robotic
technologies that will make students from the region
want to return to their hometown to work. Based onthese concepts, we will realize the “formation of spaces togather the bustle which is the source of vitality andsupport the creation of prosperity to achieve asustainable city,” a goal set by the Gifu municipal
government.
The Group only exists because of the trust placed in
us by customers and the region. In this context, theGroup’s Purpose of “achieving growth and prosperity forour customers and the local community” represents auniversal value. All our employees will work together
across the entire organization with this value at heart,aiming for our vision of where we want to be in 10 years:
a regional comprehensive financial services group thatstays ahead of the curve to always serve the region.
We ask for your further support in the future.

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