Value Creation by the Group’s Human Resources

Realizing Sustainable Growth of Our Regional Economy

Regional Business Creation
Basic Policy
At the Nanto Bank Group, we are convinced that the best way for us to contribute tosustainable growth of the regional economy is not only by generating regional earning
power, but also by promoting Nara prefecture’s revitalization through communication ofits immense appeal to attract more visitors to the region.
Besides supporting customers and the regional community, the Group, which isitself a business entity, promises to work proactively to resolve local issues and contributeto regional development.

Fiscal 2023 Action Plan
External environment

Goal to beachieved

Fiscal 2023 Action Plan
The Nanto Bank Group will continue its concerted efforts to add
value to local assets and resources, while collaborating with local
governments and external organizations to support customers’ startups and new businesses.

Low economic
growthRich tourism
resources
Acceleration ofdigital shift

Initiatives for startups
and new businesses

Initiatives forsustainableagriculture

Sustainablegrowth ofregional
economyInitiatives for tourism
and regional growth

Initiatives for startups and new businesses

Universities andtechnical colleges

 Support for entrepreneurs and business developers
The Nanto Bank Group members will work in unison to facilitate commercializationof our customers’ businesses and expand their customer bases.

 Stronger collaboration with the industrial, governmental, and academic sectors
We are restructuring our support systems for start-ups to strengthen cooperation
with external support organizations and extend support to larger numbers ofstart-ups.

BANK

YorozuSupport Center

Japan FinanceCorporationCooperation withoutside support bodies

 Providing more effective support for business incubationWe will consider operating business incubation facilities designed to fostera climate that makes it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses in Naraprefecture.

Chamber ofCommerce andIndustry

Credit guaranteeassociations
Prefectural andmunicipal governments

Nanto Success Road Awards

Startup support package

The Group has organized a total of nine “Nanto Success Road”
Encouragement Awards for business plans formulated by individuals
and companies seeking to develop or launch new businesses that arelikely to contribute to the regional economy and society.
In addition to monetary awards, winners receive regular personal
visits from representatives of Nanto Bank, which provides full support forearly realization of their business plan, with its various types of available
support often provided in collaboration with external institutions.

We offer startup support packages designed either forbusinesses or for individual business operators planning tobuild (or operating for a period of less than three years) a
new business enterprise.
These packages are all tailored to the needs ofentrepreneurs, and all offer six types of supporting services,
including consultation on financing. The packages provide
one-stop support for the period from pre- to post-startup.
Number of applicants (cumulative)

Total number of award-winning plans to date (cumulative)

116(Cases)

146

214(Cases)

86
43
2020

32 Nanto Report 2023, the integrated report of Nanto Bank

2021

2022(Fiscal year)

2020

57
2021

2022 (Fiscal year)

About Nanto Bank

Our Shared Vision

Value Creation by theDeveloping Human
Governance Supporting Our Consolidated Financial
Statements
Resources for Value Creation Group’s Human Resources Proactive Human Resources

BusinessmodelStrategies
and resources
allocation

Outlook

Initiatives for sustainable agriculture Our goal is to establish profitable and sustainable agriculture, reduce the amount of abandoned farmland, and increase thenumber of newcomers to the industry.

Initiatives for smart farming and sixth-sector industrialization
The Bank has been providing support tomaximize the value of agricultural products
by introducing organic farming techniquesand so-called “sixth-sector industrialization”
and to implement smart farming, whichmakes the process of agriculture more
efficient while reducing production costs by
utilizing robotics and ICT.

I am working to achieve sustainable agriculture
by applying the knowledge and knowhow I
acquired at the Bank.

“Aigamorobo” automatic
weed inhibitor robot
Inhibits weed germination inrice paddies

Cultivation of Yamato vegetables
Yamato Sanjaku cucumbers arecultivated for use in making Narapickles

Securing new workers by combining agriculture and welfare
Besides providing opportunities for people with disabilities to work
energetically, we find new work for them in the agricultural sector, where theworking population is aging and declining.
Agribusiness

Provision of employment opportunities

Related population growth
Administrative support, etc.

Welfare facilities, etc.

Provision of workers

Provision of employment information

Local governments

Initiatives for tourism and regional growth

My family are small-scale rice farmers, and I have helped themwith their work since I was a student. I often wondered about theprofit and expense balance of this business, and felt doubts about
the prospects for my carrying on their work. My participation in
local festivals made me aware that revitalization of agriculture
and training of successors would be essential for maintaining
our community and the original landscape of the region. This
experience made me want to work full-time to improve small
farmers’ profitability and train a new generation of farmers.
I have put the communication and problem analysis skills
I developed at the Bank to good use in building relationships,
not only with local farmers, but also with local governments,
agricultural equipment manufacturers, and research institutes.
I hope to continue trying new techniques, freefrom the restrictions of conventional practices, forthe purpose of establishing a model case thatallows newcomers to enter the farming industry
without worries. My goal is to make agriculture an
attractive industry and contribute to regional
revitalization.
Nara Mirai Design Co., Ltd.
Department Chief Hiroshi Yoshimura We are pursuing Nara prefecture’s transformation from a “daytrip” tourist destination to a longer-stay destination, with theaim of increasing the prefecture’s GDP by raising spending on tourism.

Transformation to a longer-stay tourism destination
We are developing tourism hubs that provide lodgings throughout Nara prefecture to make it easier for travelers to stay longer andtour the prefecture from north to south.

Nipponia Hotel Nara Naramachi

Nipponia Tawaramoto Maruto Soy Sauce
The town of Tawaramoto-cho in Isogi-gun, Nara prefecture, retains
the original rural landscape of ancient Japan. Established here in
1689 by Maruto Co., Ltd., Maruto Soy Sauce is Nara prefecture’s
oldest soy sauce brewery. In its heyday, the company extended its
sales channels nationwide, but its success ended when raw
materials supply problems in the postwar years forced it to close in1949. Almost 70 years later in 2020, the brewery was renovatedand reopened as an old private residence hotel, Nipponia
Tawaramoto Soy Sauce. The warehouse, brewery, living quarters,and many of the old tools have been retained and renovated tocreate unique accommodation and restaurant facilities.

HokuwaExcursion
tourism
Nara City

Chuwa

The Nipponia Hotel Nara Naramachi opened for business in November 2018 in arenovated 130-year-old sake brewery formerly operated by long-established sake maker
Nara Toyosawa in the historic township of Naramachi. The hotel restaurant wasrenovated using the original building materials in both the exterior and interior
construction to involve the brewery’s beams and ceilings in its retro atmosphere.

Tawaramoto-cho
Excursion Gose City
tourism
Yoshino-cho

Excursion
tourism

Nanwa
Excursion
tourism

Gose Sento Hotel
We have revived an abandoned public bathhouse in the town of Gose-machi
as a bathhouse and renovated a nearby traditional private house into a
facility that can be used for lodging, working vacations and dining.

Sakamoto Ryumon Library
In 2021, the Nanto Bank Group acquired an old private house in Yoshino, a town insouthern Nara prefecture. The house was formerly the primary residence of Senji
Sakamoto, the founder and one-time president of the Yoshino Zaimoku Bank, which has
special significance for Nanto Bank as one of the institutions from which it was formed.
We are planning to transform this library into a tourist accommodation facility over thenext few years to create a regional tourism hub.

Efforts toward tourism DX
We are digitalizing information on tourist attractions to improve convenience for travelers and to promote excursion tours by providing timely
recommendations and eliminating visitors’ dissatisfaction caused by a shortage of available information. We are introducing this initiative first in Nara
City, which already attracts large numbers of tourists, with the intention of extending it throughout the prefecture after verifying its effectiveness.

Nanto Report 2023, the integrated report of Nanto Bank33