Our Sustainability Message from Outside Directors
Combining interpersonal skills, digital, and teamwork

Focus on laying the foundation for sustainable growth

As a firm that operates in the high-net-worth segment of the market, training consultants to be at the forefront of
this business is a major task.
It is also important to create a digital environment that supports consultants and to have a diverse team.
Creating an environment where each individual can learn and grow will further enhance the quality of the proposals
we make to our clients.

In February 2024, we revised downward our forecast for FY2024 as previously announced in the Medium-Term
Management Plan.
The reasons for this revision include the intensifying competition surrounding Advantage Club and the fact that
our consultant training is only partway complete.
From FY2024, we intend to step up our investment in human resource development, aiming for medium- to longterm growth.

Recently, the Nikkei Stock Average hit an all-time high.
Meanwhile, real estate prices continue to rise, especially inurban areas. Given this, it is clear that the high-net-worthclass in Japan will keep increasing. But who are thesehigh-net-worth individuals? Although there are definitions
such as "those owning more than several hundred million
JPY in assets," the specifics are not easy to define clearly.
Some corporate owners possess real estate and financial
assets, while others have management assets, including
human assets and intangible assets. For corporate owners
in particular, the management assets gained through goodmanagement can be significant.
These diverse high-net-worth individuals are our clients.
Our consultants stand at the forefront of this organization.
The most important task for us is developing humanOutside Director

Haruo Shimada

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Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2024

resources capable of responding to the diverse issues,interests, and needs of high-net-worth individuals, andmaintaining and strengthening relationships of trust withthem on an ongoing basis.
In the past, consultants were often viewed as "loneplayers," but in today's era of rapid change, this style has
its limits. In recent years, both teamwork and use of digitaltechnology have become increasingly important.
Data accounts for a large portion of intangible assets inour society, and is increasing each year. Mindful of thesetrends, we are accelerating our DX efforts. Creating a
database detailing each client's unique situation enables
our consultants to make better proposals based on thisinformation. Also, if the database details how we haveassisted our clients, junior employees can learn a lot fromthe actions of their senior colleagues.
These DX initiatives are progressing steadily. However,
we cannot gain meaningful information without building
relationships of trust with our clients. The interpersonal
skills of individual consultants has been and still is a crucialelement.
At the same time, in team building, it is important toensure diversity. Adding different perspectives elevates thelevel of discussion within the company and improves thequality of the team. This will be reflected in the proposals
we make to our clients. To this end, we need to ensure
women, who make up half of our human resources, canplay an active role. This year, we welcomed two women
who will serve as Outside Director and Executive Officer.
We look forward to their success, and are confident thatthe presence of role models close at hand will encourage
their younger colleagues.
In recent years, pressure on Japanese companies
from surrounding society has been increasing. Corporate
governance reforms have got underway, and management
conditions have become considerably more transparent.
The fact that listed companies are now required to disclose
information on human capital can also be positioned
within this trend.
It goes without saying that human resources areimportant to us. Individuals must have the desire to learn
and grow, while as a company, we must provide thenecessary environment and support. We intend to further
strengthen these efforts in future.

Over the past decade, we have experienced rapid
growth. Looking back over the past few years, ouroperating income has continued to increase by 30% to
40% each year. However, the rate of growth is expected
to slow somewhat, with operating profit projected to be
3.5 billion yen (+7.2%) in FY2024, compared to 3.265
billion yen in FY2023.
The Third Medium-Term Management Plan announcedin February 2022 initially set an operating income targetof 4.5 to 5 billion yen for FY2024, so 3.5 billion yen isa considerable downward revision. There are two main
reasons for this.
The first reason stems from a review of our businessexpansion policy. ADVANTAGE CLUB, a real estate
joint ownership scheme in which customers jointly own

Outside Director

Keiji Watanabe

real estate in urban areas and receive income throughreal estate leasing, is a pioneer in this field and has
gained a strong market share. However, in order tocontribute to the succession and management of ourclients' assets, we made the decision not to embark on
unreasonable expansion of our business, because webelieve it is important to select properties that meet ourrigorous standards. Therefore, we can presume that thecontribution to earnings of ADVANTAGE CLUB will beslightly lower than initially forecast.
The second reason is our expanded human capital
investment. The needs of high-net-worth individuals
are becoming more diverse and complex, and the skills
required of our consultants are reaching higher standards
every year. Unfortunately, as an organization, we have notbeen able to respond to these environmental changes ata sufficient level. We have an urgent need to train excellent
consultants who can provide a wide range of consultation
services based on strong relationships of trust with ourclients. For this reason, we are expanding investment in
human resources to drive sustainable growth.
As an outside director, I initially expressed concerns overthe major revision to the operating profit target. However,
I was moved by President Hasumi's strong determinationand commitment to consultant development, andultimately did not oppose the revision. As a result, theimpact on our stock price was limited, partly becauseof the careful explanation offered to the market. Formanagement, such decisions are never easy. I do believethat it was an excellent decision.
So what about DX? This is an important theme for ourcompany, along with human resource development. The
key to success is to digitize all operations, break downorganizational barriers, and construct a single integrated
business process. First of all, we will work on developing
a database to support the work of our consultants andpromote fully digital utilization of the database to improve
the productivity of all employees, not just consultants.
We have updated our Purpose and Vision, and included
the sentence "becoming a leader in the wealth managementbusiness." We believe this will more clearly identify thedirection in which we are headed, both for our stakeholders
and for society. Naturally, we expect to see a positive impact
on the day-to-day activities of individual employees.

Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 202427