Enhancement of Human Capital Value

SBI Group believes that people are the source of its creativity and the main driver of the differentiation, and that this gives us a competitive edge. Moreover, we believe that human resources are the most valuable strategic resources in the SBI Group, and at SBI Holdings, the executive officer in charge of human resources is responsible for formulating and implementing strategies to enhance the value of human resources, including diversity and inclusion. As a comprehensive corporate group that innovates without getting caught up in established thinking, we develop human resources that will foster and preserve our unique corporate culture and ensure their sound motivation to work. The Group, for example, creates open opportunities for employment and establishes a solid system for human resources development and a system for fair appraisal and remuneration that satisfies our employees' motivation.

▷ Human resources development

▷ Diversity & inclusion

▷ Creating a Pleasant Working Environment

▷ Numerical Targets and Action Plans

2005

Start of new graduate hiring program

Oct. 2009

Corporate dispatch system started for the MBA course at SBI Graduate School

Mar. 2015

Upper-age limit removed on post-retirement re-employment

Oct. 2016

Certification-acquisition support system introduced

Aug. 2018

Health Management Declaration instituted

Oct. 2018

Highly Specialized Professionals System established (A system that recognizes personnel who are in charge of tasks that require a high level of expertise or have certain qualifications, and allows flexible work arrangements and evaluation methods)

Apr. 2022

Major increase in salary table for new graduate employees up to their third year

June 2022

Compensation system introduced in which Group consolidated earnings are reflected in all officers’ and employees’ compensation

Oct. 2022

Shorter-hours regular employee system introduced, staggered working hours formalized into a system

Mar. 2023

Applicable certificates expanded for certification acquisition support system

Apr. 2023

Employment referrals started

Apr. 2023

Engagement survey conducted at SBI Holdings

Jan. 2024

Decided on a policy to expand incentive programs for executives and employees

Apr. 2024

Increased starting salary for new graduates and salary tables with emphasis on young to mid-career employees

A greater focus on human nature in promotions and the development of human resources that contributes to the maintenance and improvement of society are indispensable in the provision of goods and services to benefit customers. It is an important part of the effort to facilitate sustainable management. Based on this idea, we are committed to increasing the value of our human resources.

The SBI Group's criteria for recruitment place importance on candidates' personalities as well as their professional career. Our employees are expected to be good individuals in terms of their skills and personalities. They may be of any race, nationality, gender or educational background. Under this criteria, we have recruited many human resources of great promise from diverse backgrounds through our new graduate recruitment activities which started in FY2006. In the future, securing human resources to handle tasks requiring highly specialized skills will take on increasing importance, therefore we actively promote talented individuals regardless of whether they are mid-career or new graduates. In 2018, we established a system for highly specialized personnel which enables different actions beyond existing frameworks regarding salaries and working arrangements. From April 2022, we implemented a significant increase in starting salary for new graduates and in the salary table up to the third year of employment.

We are also working to train employees to understand and practice the management philosophy of the SBI Group and corporate culture based on the fact that more than 90% of our employees are mid-career hires. Continuous training is provided to enable employees to implement initiatives with Group-wide synergy in mind, rather than taking a myopic perspective focused on the work of their own department. Moreover, through books written by the top management about management theories and corporate philosophy, we seek to improve the education of employees in moral philosophy and business administration, thereby fostering a sense of unity within the Company and promoting communication.

Remuneration for employees focuses on more than just results. We place importance on the processes leading to the results. The SBI Group strives to evaluate employees fairly and impartially and utilizes comprehensive and multifaceted evaluations with input from subordinates and colleagues as well as superiors through the adoption of a 360°feedback system.　Decisions on remuneration for our employees are made comprehensively based on multifaceted appraisals, the degree of achievement of half-yearly targets and other criteria such as experience, skills and contribution to the performance of the SBI Group. The policy of rewarding the people who succeed and promoting people with good sense and judgment runs throughout our organization.

SBI Group hopes to nurture as many talented human resources as possible so that they will play leading roles in the future of Japan. The talented human resources we strive to develop are individuals with great aspirations of contributing to the economy and society, beyond the profits of a single division or company. They are highly specialized in business, have an international perspective, and are equipped with courage and knowledge backed by unshakable ethics and an ability to get things done.
From this viewpoint, the SBI Graduate School opened in 2008 with full support of the SBI Group. The SBI Graduate School extensively draws highly motivated students from outside the SBI Group, and provides opportunities to study moral philosophy, placing more importance on moral education to enable students to grow as good human beings than on intellectual education to cram a lot of knowledge into the students. The graduate school introduces the latest knowledge about business administration in its educational program and provides opportunities for practical learning. We seek to develop talented human resources through dialogue and friendly competition involving people from many different backgrounds and individual traits, between teachers and students as well as among students not through the unilateral impartment of knowledge.
The development of human resources within the SBI Group involves training programs utilizing the SBI Graduate School in addition to on-the-job training in each area of professional knowledge and skills. Employees who aspire to be promoted to senior management positions must complete the SBI Group Senior Manager Training Program before being promoted. We also have a program for dispatching employees who want a more extensive education about business management to the SBI Graduate School. As of the end of March 2023, 157 employees have obtained MBA degrees through this program.

We believe that securing excellent human resources and improving employee satisfaction and retention rates will become even more important for the sustainable growth of the SBI Group.

Since April 2022, we have significantly raised the starting salary for new graduates and the salary table up to the third year of employment. In April 2024, we raised the starting salary for new graduates again and the salary table with emphasis on young to mid-career employees to retain and secure wise personnel.

In addition, with the goal of further increasing the corporate value of the SBI Group, we believe that it is also important for the executives and employees of the SBI Group to conduct business operations with greater awareness of the Company's stock price and corporate value in order to further enhance the cohesiveness of the Company and raise morale and motivation for consolidated performance. For the purpose of achieving these objectives, the Company has introduced incentive programs for directors and employees of the Company and its subsidiaries. In addition to these efforts, we are also working to improve the treatment of our employees by introducing a compensation system for all the executives and employees that reflects the consolidated performance of the Group.

Programs for the development of human resources within the SBI Group

・ New employee training program
Our new employees spend the first year in the company participating in an e-learning program from the SBI Graduate School with the goal of enabling them to understand basic theories and acquire practical skills that will be used in their work every day. For new employees, we provide training to help them acquire knowledge and management perspectives as executives of the SBI Group from early on in their careers, by setting a report that is to be submitted every two weeks which is then evaluated by management executives including the CEO.

・ Senior Manager Training Program
The program is designed for employees who aspire to be promoted to senior management positions. Our employees are required to take courses centered on moral philosophy for approximately a year at the SBI Graduate School and complete it before being promoted to senior management positions.

・ Employee dispatch program (SBI Graduate School MBA program)
With the main goal of developing human resources that will lead the SBI Group in the future, we have a program that enrolls employees in the SBI Graduate School. Through this program, it is expected that our human resources will be able to see and think about things from a broader perspective, by improving management and business abilities as well as logical thinking.
Developing the next generation of leaders at SBI Graduate School

・ SBI Group's Single-subject and Diploma Program
These programs are a part of our personnel measures with the goal of encouraging employees' self-development. Employees are able to learn at the SBI Graduate School while balancing work and their personal lives with a view towards a transition to the employee dispatch program (MBA program).

・ Program supporting the acquisition of qualifications
If employees apply for this program beforehand, the company may shoulder the expenses necessary for an employee to acquire a qualification.

・ Career Open Program
The program enables the SBI Group employees to choose their career path and is divided into three categories: in-house recruitment, self-reporting and business plan proposal.

・ Procedures for employment transfer
To facilitate employees' medium- and long-term career advancement, we have introduced an employment transfer program where temporary employees can become regular or direct employees.

In this way, the SBI Group focuses its efforts on human resources development through training programs, with an annual training time per employee of 13 hours and 23 minutes*. SBI Holdings’ education and training expenses amounted to 60.78 million yen, with an average training cost per person of 239,298 yen.
* Employees of domestic consolidated subsidiaries (excluding SBI Shinsei Bank Group) are covered.

To continue innovating, we respect the diversity of our executives and employees and focus on the development of a workplace environment that enables diverse human resources to assume leading roles.

SBI Group believes that consistently achieving sustained growth and innovating requires an environment that enables diverse human resources to respect each other's values and personalities, maximize each other's abilities and improve together irrespective of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other attributes. Based on this belief, the director in charge of human resources at SBI Holdings is responsible for diversity and inclusion.
SBI Group operates in 25 countries and regions, and the overseas offices account for 21.7% of the total number of employees. Since March 2015, the upper-age limit on post-retirement re-employment has been abolished, as we are committed to actively promoting talented employees regardless of their attributes.

SBI Group takes various measures to build a pleasant working environment for all human resources to maximize their performances.

In 2018, we published our “Health Management Declaratio”n and declared our determination to actively build a better environment for employees to maintain and improve their health. Monthly "Individual Health Consultations" by industrial physicians are held on request, with face-to-face, telephone and written interviews with employees. SBI Wellness Bank, which was established in 2007 to actively contribute directly to society through the medical field, strives to maintain the health of executives and employees within the SBI Group through the Tokyo International Clinic, a medical corporation that we partner with and support. As long working hours may induce mental health problems, we have taken many corrective actions throughout the SBI Group since 2015. For example, we are making efforts to understand the status of overtime hours and paid leave by periodically notifying eligible employees and their supervisors via an alert function. In addition, since 2016, employees have been required to undergo stress checks. Going forward, we will carefully analyze the quantitative data we collected from the stress checks to understand the operational characteristics and workplace environment of each Group company. At the same time, we will continue considering more effective measures in ensuring that employees remain in good health.

In addition, we have introduced a “Career Open Program” with the intention of providing employees with opportunities for self-actualization and achieving effective utilization and appropriate placement of human resources. This program allows employees to declare their desire to transfer to other business companies, etc. that they wish to join within the SBI Group. In FY2022, a total of 168 employees utilized this program to realize career change.

We are also promoting the development of a comfortable working environment. Through initiatives such as a shortened-hours regular employee system, a staggered working hours system, and a parental and childcare leave system, the Company on its own has a 100% rate of mothers taking childcare leave, and a 33.3% rate of fathers taking childcare leave. Furthermore, to improve work efficiency and productivity, the entire Group is promoting the introduction of robotic process automation (RPA) to automate various routine tasks.

Since 2023, we have conducted an engagement survey to further strengthen the ties between employees and the Company. The survey results would be utilized to improve employee engagement, with the goal of further developing a comfortable working environment.

SBI Group recognizes the increasing importance of diversity, we have set goals to maintain the ratio of female managers in the Company at least 20% and the ratio of employees with foreign nationality in the Group at least 40% until 2025. We are committed to working towards maintaining and improving the current ratios (24.7% and 37.7%*, respectively, as of March 31, 2023).

In addition, both the Company and each Group Company are actively working to comply with the “Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace” and the “Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children,” and we have established numerical targets and action plans based on these acts.

SBI Holdings (Japanese only)

SBI SECURITIES (Japanese only)

SBI Shinsei Bank (Japanese only)

SBI Life Insurance (Japanese only)

SBI Okasan Asset Management (Japanese only)

* The figure for the ratio of employees with foreign nationality applies to domestic consolidated subsidiaries, excluding the SBI Shinsei Bank Group

Integrated Report 2023＞The SBI Group’s Human Resources Strategy