Sompo Holdings Inc U/Adr

Yes, thank you for joining us today. First, please turn to page three. Last week, we announced our first half results and had the earnings goal, so I will skip the details on the numbers. But in a nutshell, I would say that we are making good progress over the numbers. But looking at how rapidly the environment is changing and the magnitude of the change as well as the uncertainties, if we consider that, the reform that we have embarked on is still not concluded. So for the first half results, we exceeded our initial guidance. And I think that is partly thanks to the efforts that we have been making to date, and also partly driven by the external environment. So we should not be just focused on the short-term results, but we will carry out what needs to be done. So our efforts will not bear fruit overnight. In some cases, our efforts may bring results exceeding our initial expectation, and I think that is the destiny of the insurance business. Moving on to page five, I would like to talk about the two numerical targets under the midterm management plan, the ROE target and also the EPS growth. Regarding the EPS growth, we are growing significantly. exceeding the initial expectation and for ROE, we are making steady improvement. But we need a further improvement to the next level. And moving on to page six. Here, I would like to talk about the initiatives under a simple PNC. Regarding the initiatives with the sample PNC, it's on page six, please. We are executing what needs to be done, and we have achieved some quick wins. but we are also carrying out initiatives which will bring about long-term benefits. So in terms of the numbers, we have reinsurance strategy leveraging on the scale and also for investment. As a quick win, we are already achieving some benefits. And for simple PNC, The initiatives are done jointly with SMPO Japan and SMPO PNC, SMPO International. And also, there are other areas where SMPO Japan is taking the lead for initiatives like SJR and also other initiatives that's led by SMPO International. So it's a mixture of different initiatives. And we are already achieving some quick wins. But as I said earlier, updating the corporate culture and also walking away from focus on the top line, those are things that cannot be changed immediately. Also, we have this unwavering determination to move forward without going back. For SMPO Japan, we are trying to build the underwriting culture, and this is the key. We are making tremendous efforts to achieve this, and we are getting a lot of support and stimulus from SMPO International, including trying to improve the portfolio, controlling the line size, and also managing the limit. We are trying to walk away from the traditional industry practices, which would also require close communication with the customers. So we will focus on our path and move forward by tenaciously carrying out these initiatives. And in terms of the numbers, you can see improvement for combined ratio as well as adjusted profit. Our next page on well-being on page 7, we have communicated about the concepts over a number of times. We want to make the aging society a positive society, so that's why we are addressing three concerns. Also, from the phase of concept, we are shifting to a phase of implementation this year. Also, on October 1st, in order to accelerate these efforts, we have established a new entity, Sample Well-Being, to promote these initiatives. Also, some things that cannot be addressed single-handedly. have been covered by three entities connecting and being connected to support the individuals by extending the services so that we can make a positive impact to the aging society. Page 8, please. This is regarding the growth strategy and growth investment. We have organic growth and also inorganic growth. Regarding the inorganic growth for M&A, recently we made the announcement regarding the acquisition of Aspen. Also, associating the deal and Working on the deal and doing the PMR is something that we will carry out solidly. At Semple International, organic growth, i.e. the geographical expansion, is what we have been rolling out to establish new offices and also to hire new underwriters. This is enabling us to make steady growth for Semple Well-Being. in order to address the three concerns and also to support the individual's lifespan With that concept, on top of that, we're looking at the new opportunities or new services. We need to develop or create those services. In order to fill in those missing pieces, one methodology is to try to grow organically, but to try to gain those pieces through inorganic M&A opportunities. So for this, we are now shifting to a phase of implementation.

Moving on to page 9, this is my final page. In order to realize our purpose, we will try to enhance our resilience and also connect it and be connected. We'd like to make sure that we continue this strategy. And to become the truly global company born in Japan, we will not stop our efforts. In the medium term, what we are committed to is the 500 billion yen in adjusted profit and market capital of 6 trillion yen. So fiscal 2030. That is the deadline. And how can we do this earlier than that? And the 500 billion target, can we exceed this level? So those are the things that we are discussing right now. And in May, the new SOMPO story is something that I'd like to share with you. And from my side, about the group-wide strategy, that's all that I wanted to say. And I will hand the microphone to Jim. Thank you. Thank you.

And welcome. I'd like you to turn to slide 11, where we talk about the pillars of success for Sampo P&C. As Okamura-san mentioned, Sampo is a Japanese company born and truly global. To do so, we need to operate more than just PNC and well-being. But when we looked at the global PNC businesses, we were operating as two separate organizations, Japan and overseas. And so in April of this year, we brought the two organizations together in a form of communication and joint management structure. We focused on reinsurance, which began approximately two years ago, to present ourselves to the marketplace as one organization. This allowed us to utilize the size and scale to negotiate better terms and conditions, not only on a reinsurance basis, but of our overall global relationships with distribution partners. Over the last several months, we've focused on building investment strategies, operations and IT, underwriting, human resources, and risk. And now we're going to talk about two of those in particular, and the first one being investments, and I'll hand over to Nick Burnett.