Message from the Management

To our shareholders, thank you for your continued support and patronage of the Resona Group.

Below, I would like to share our business performance and initiatives for the first half of FY2023.

Interim net income attributable to owners of parent for the fiscal year under review totaled 82.5 billion yen, almost unchanged from the same period of the previous fiscal year. The rate of progress toward our full-year earnings target (150.0 billion yen) was 55.0%, which is in line with our plan. The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio was 1.37% and the capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.57%, both remaining at healthy levels.

With regard to shareholder returns, based on our policy for a total shareholder return ratio of around 50% while maintaining stable dividends, we plan to execute share buybacks, with a maximum of 15.0 billion yen being set aside in November, raising our forecast of the total shareholder return ratio to 51.3%. We plan to pay a dividend of 22 yen per share, comprising an interim dividend of 11 yen per share and a year-end dividend of 11 yen per share as initially forecast. This represents an increase of 1 yen per share from the previous year.

We are also making steady progress in “strengthening of value creation capabilities” and “development of next-generation management platforms” as set out in the Medium-term Management Plan. As part of our efforts to strengthen our value creation capabilities, we will make two leasing companies consolidated subsidiaries in January 2024. In April 2024, we will initiate a business integration with the Kansai Mirai Financial Group in order to develop a next-generation management platform. By further strengthening the Group's consolidated operations, we aim to both strengthen our ability to provide value and improve our cost competitiveness in accordance with the characteristics of each region and customer.

The Resona Group has marked 20 years since the start of the Resona Reform. In September 2023, we published a company history entitled, “The Resona Group's 20 Years of History: The Challenge of Reform,” in order to express our gratitude to everyone who has supported us over the years and to ensure that the Resona Group learns from the past and continues to utilize this experience in the future.

The entire Resona Group will remain true to our basic stance that “Customers' happiness is our pleasure” and further accelerate our “new challenges” with the aim of becoming “Retail No. 1” as a Group.

I ask for your continued support and encouragement as we move forward.