Top Message
President’s Message

Bringing happiness to as many clients as possible
Toward three years of further growth● Shifts in cumulative total assets of Advantage Clubpartnerships● Third Medium-Term Management Plan:
The 4 standpoints(100 million yen)
900
■New ■ExistingStandpoint

882.8

800

162.5
720.3

700

Our Second Medium-Term Management Plan, which included the three-year planning period from 2019 to 2021, is
now completed and we have started our Third Medium-Term Management Plan from 2022 to 2024. Here, company
president Masazumi Hasumi shares his thoughts on the Third Medium-Term Management Plan, which is positioned
as a period of expansion and growth toward the realization of our long-term vision.

DX gets underway, with the adverse
circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic
as a springboard— What is your assessment of the Second Medium-Term Management Plan, which came to an end
in FY2021?
Since my appointment as company president in 2008, I
have been striving to make us Japan's No. 1 comprehensive property consulting firm, supported by clients whoknow, "When it comes to property, it's Aoyama ZaisanNetworks."
The three years of our Second Medium-Term Management Plan, which started in 2019, were positioned as aperiod of growth as a property consulting firm, as well asa period for improving our interpersonal skills and arming
ourselves with technology in preparation for a future period of expansion and growth.
In 2020 and 2021, property consulting sales were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and growth in thisarea was sluggish. Although the AZN business model
involves holding seminars and providing individual consultations to participating clients on an outsourcing basis, the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to holdface-to-face seminars, and face-to-face communications
with partner financial institutions and clients were also
limited, resulting in fewer points of contact with clients. It
also prevented us from fully demonstrating our consulting

President

Masazumi Hasumi
12

Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2022

Expand clients
Increase added value

Comprehensive
property
consulting
services#2

Increase productivity
Standardize digitally-enabled
property consulting services

627.5

42.5
466.8

400

720.3

65.2

509.3
500

Standpoint

53.0

574.5

Strategic
individualized
services92.8

627.5
600

#1574.5

Promote DX

509.3
HR: Recruitment & training of consulting personnel

20172018
2019
2020
2021
December December December December December

capabilities to our clients. On the other hand, strong performance in real estate transactions such as Advantage
Club, which was strategically expanded to incorporate
new clients, made up for this, and we were able to finish
FY2021 on an upward trend in sales and profit.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, our DX initiatives
have progressed beyond expectations, although one ofthe principal goals of our Second Medium-Term Management Plan was to arm ourselves with better technology.
We have set up our own studio, started online seminars,
and established a framework for online communications
with our clients, including web conferencing. Additionally, we have developed a new system that centralizes theknowledge accumulated by our Group to improve the efficiency of consulting operations, enabling rapid delivery ofhigh-level services to our clients. This is the ART system,
which was officially launched in 2021.

4 standpoints for recovery towarda growth trajectory— Aside from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, what other changes have you seen in the businessenvironment?
Since the controversial "20 million yen retirement savings problem" in 2019, interest in asset management hasbeen growing. An increasing number of households are
selling their income-producing real estate properties toconvert it into cash, using it to cover living expenses.
In addition, the number of consultations with our Grouphas been increasing, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the difficulty of finding successors as well as
declining profitability make it difficult to continue businessindependently, and people are increasingly choosing toOrganization: Division of labor for consulting

Improving interpersonal skills

Growing into aStandpoint consulting groupwith strong
interpersonal skills#3Standpoint#4

Proactive approach
to social contribution
activities

pass on their businesses to third parties.
— Please explain the Third Medium-Term Management Plan, which was initiated amid such circumstances.
In our Third Medium-Term Management Plan, which wehave positioned as a period of expansion and growth
as a property consulting firm, we will focus on increasing
new clients, which was an issue during the Second Medium-Term Management Plan, and on strengthening ourhuman resources. Specifically, we will strengthen our position from four standpoints.
— What are these four standpoints? Please explainthem in order.
The first perspective is improving the quality and expanding the quantity of our services to clients through thetwin cornerstones of strategic individualized services
and comprehensive property consulting services. Up
to now, comprehensive property consulting services havebeen our main point of contact with clients, but responding to individual needs makes clients aware of our consulting services and encourages them to entrust us withcomprehensive property consulting services. This is thesort of flow we aim to create. We will also further expand
our partnerships with partners who possess numerous
points of contact with clients and strengthen our services in the field of real estate, where we can leverage ourAoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2022

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Top Message
President’s Message
group's strengths. We believe that by working in tandemwith comprehensive property consulting services, we will
be able to provide high-quality services to our clients froma total optimization standpoint.
In the field of comprehensive property consulting, inaddition to succession, operation, and management ofassets for individual asset holders in the Tokyo metropolitan area, we are strengthening our consulting services
to provide total succession, operation, and managementof businesses and assets for small- and medium-sizedbusiness owners to enable our clients’ families and businesses to develop and prosper.
In terms of strategic individualized services, weplace particular emphasis on family office services. We
work with regional banks and other partners nationwide
to create a framework for the development in perpetuityof high-quality family businesses throughout Japan, both
listed and unlisted.

Promoting DX and strengthening humanresources to support the next generation— What is the second standpoint?
This is offering property consulting services utilizing
smartphone and online communication tools as standardservices. We will continue to increase our productivity bypromoting DX, hiring and training human resources, andoverhauling our organizational structure.
To this end, we will invest more aggressively in humanresources and systems from 2022 to enhance our humanresources and business infrastructure. For example, weplan to implement the ability to make Advantage Club
purchases via a smartphone app by the end of 2022.
Shifting over to the app allows us not only to increase thenumber of new clients and increase productivity, but alsoenhance convenience for our clients.
— As DX gets underway, aren’t you also promoting
the hiring and training of human resources, which isone of the foundations of business?
Recruitment and training of human resources means, inour case specifically, increasing the number of consultants
who will support the future of our group.
Consultants need to possess wisdom, capacity for action, and interpersonal skills. Our group's role is to ensure
our clients’ satisfaction with total optimization solutionplans by applying these three capabilities to any issues
they are facing.
However, as the business environments in which ourclients are involved change year by year and as the issues
they face become more complex, the scope of expertise
required keeps expanding. In order to meet a diverse
range of needs, consultants need to be more knowledgeable and experienced than ever before.
We actively recruit dedicated specialists such as tax accountants, accountants, and lawyers with an interest inproperty consulting, and we keep raising the level of our14

Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2022

It is important to achieve total
consulting services by acquiring broader knowledge andutilizing the ART system. We are also instituting a systemfor division of labor to enable our consultants to concentrate on highly specialized consulting.
In addition, we are constructing our own in-house training program in anticipation of expanded hiring. We planto acquire assistance from external experts, extract thespecialized knowledge necessary for consulting, packageit, then offer it as an educational program for our consultants. To drive further business growth, we will actively
train and appoint young people in leader roles, create apleasant work environment, and give women opportunities to play more active roles.
— Why have you chosen to focus on women?
In order to resolve issues related to our clients' assets,
we need to provide consulting services that go beyond
the concerns of the client's assets, encompassing thefeelings of the client's family too. We believe that in order to meet the diverse values and needs of our clients,
it is important to have a diverse group of consultants. Although the number of female consultants at AZN is still
low, whenever we communicate with family members beyond the head of the family, some clients find it easier todiscuss matters with a female consultant. In the modernage, demand for female consultants is increasing. I believethat women will find this job rewarding, as they can easilyadjust their hours, help other people, and gain expertisethat is sure to prove useful personally. We are also putting
in place measures to create a better work environment forwomen, such as childcare support.

Interpersonal skills of employees: afoundation for sustainable management— Could you tell us the third standpoint?
The development of our Group depends on our ability
to contribute to the happiness of our clients by solving
their asset-related problems. Two crucial qualities requiredof consultants are the mindset to work for the benefitof others and the ability to empathize with the feelings of clients. It is important to properly understand ourclients' problems, desires, concerns, and worries, andhow we can contribute to meeting their true demands.
We have been helping clients to sustain their families andtheir businesses in perpetuity for generations. It is simply
not possible to provide consulting services without building a foundation of trust. In order to earn the trust of ourclients, it is essential that we grow into a consulting groupthat possesses strong interpersonal skills. Having interpersonal skills means being able to think about what ourclients really need and search for solutions with kindness,warmth, and sincerity—in other words, an altruistic mentality.
To that end, we need the strong desire to serve ourclients and we need wisdom and capacity for action toresolve problems, all based upon strong interpersonal

skills enabling us to prioritize the happiness of our clients.
The value of our group is the total sum of the interpersonal skills possessed by every single one of ourmembers. Raising the level of our interpersonal skills isessential to the growth of our business. During the ThirdMedium-Term Management Plan period, we will be working to strengthen this aspect too.
— A new in-house Sustainability Committee has
been established. Development of interpersonal skills
is one objective of the Committee, apparently.
The Sustainability Committee, which I chair, has five
subcommittees: TCFD, Instilling Management Philosophy
and Strengthening Human Resources, Changing Work
Styles, Social Contribution, and Strengthening Governance. Each of these subcommittees has formulated
goals and plans to achieve their respective goals, and asystem has been established to ensure that information isshared regularly and steadily acted upon, including by theCommittee and the Board of Directors.
We added Changing Work Styles because we believethat unless our consultants are healthy, both physicallyand mentally, they will not be able to develop strong interpersonal skills and provide outstanding consulting services.
— So the Sustainability Committee plays a central
role in the fourth standpoint driving the Third Medium-Term Management Plan?
The fourth perspective is actively promoting social contribution, which is one of the segments of the Sustainability Committee. We continuously donate a portion ofour earnings to organizations tackling social issues suchas support for subsidized children's cafeterias and elimination of pet euthanasia. At the same time, we hope byengaging in social contribution activities, our employees
will gain empathy with the pain of others and will become
more kind to other people. Many of these activities havealso been conducted in the past, but have been restructured at this time.

Responding to expanding consulting needsfrom a total optimization standpoint— Can you talk about your outlook for the future?
From this year, the baby boomer generation will truly
become elderly, and their needs for property succession,business succession, and property management are expected to increase over the next couple of decades.
On the other hand, there are still very few consulting
firms that take into account total optimization as outlined in our five standpoints on comprehensive propertyconsulting. Many consulting firms provide only partial optimization in their respective areas of expertise, and do
not meet the real demands of their clients.
— So a gap exists between needs and services?
I believe that Aoyama Zaisan Networks needs to fill thisgap.

optimization by applying
wisdom, capacity foraction, and interpersonal
skills to each client'sown issues.

● 5 standpoints on comprehensive property consulting
services

successionof management
1 Smoothfor
5 Preparation
the unexpectedand
4 Management
maintenance ofproperty

successionof property
2 Smoothtax
3 Securing
payment funds

To resolve our clients' issues, it is essential that we
maintain a mindset of full commitment to our clients andtheir happiness, as well as the happiness of those aroundthem. Our role lies in ensuring that consulting based on
this concept takes firm root in Japan. We are also stepping up our efforts to raise our profile so that our clients
all agree, "When it comes to property, it's Aoyama Zaisan
Networks." We are working with our partners to create asystem for providing happier business succession, prop­
erty in succession, and property management services
than ever before.

Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2022

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