Social contribution of a “regional financial institution” that has been close to Shibuya for 100 years

January 31, 2023

Takayoshi Nagasawa (Director of Future Design Shibuya and Managing Director of Seibu Shinkin Bank)
Shinko Osada (Director and Secretary General Future Design Shibuya)

We are pleased to announce that Ms. Takayoshi Nagasawa, Managing Director of Seibu Shinkin Bank, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Future Design Shibuya starting this fiscal year.
Ms. Nagasawa has long thought about and worked on contribution to the community from the standpoint of a credit union, and Osada, also a board member and executive director of Future Design Shibuya, spoke with her about the future of credit unions and the ideal form for Future Design Shibuya.

The ideal image of Shinkin Bank in Shibuya

Osada of all, I would like to ask you again about your career so far, Mr. Nagasawa.

Nagasawa My father works for a property and casualty insurance company, and my two older brothers work for a securities company and a life insurance company. I was. I thought the business model they were trying to do was really good.
However, when I had just joined the company, so-called collection activities were the center of sales. When I was busy, I would visit customers in the area early in the morning. Although I felt that it was a little different from what I had learned at school, I really liked talking to customers, so I taught them various things about the area. I was doing it while eating.
Speaking of Shibuya, in 2004 I took up the position of deputy branch manager of the Shibuya sales department, and created a "customer meeting" in Shibuya with a diverse range of old customers and new customers. After that, there was a transfer, but in 2014 I returned to the Shibuya sales department as a branch manager, and now I am involved in stores in Tokyo including Shibuya as a managing director.

Osada the past, you said that you used to go around the area and collect money.

Nagasawa: You've changed. About 30 years ago, Seibu Shinkin Bank started so-called business support initiatives. Even now, there are some shinkin banks that work closely with their customers in the form of purveyors and consult with them especially about money, which is the typical style of shinkin banks. Although we have not completely abolished it, it was 30 years ago that we shifted our focus from sales activities to customer business support.

Initially, it started with support centered on the manufacturing industry. However, we do not have any specialized knowledge or experience in the manufacturing industry, so we will work with universities, companies, and organizations that are good at such things to solve the various problems that our customers have. We have expanded the scope of our business. For example, when an SME customer requests "I want to make a new product like this," we match the engineers who can handle it, or the seeds that universities have to create something new. have made efforts.

Osada expected, it is important to have a strong network with local small and medium-sized companies and people in the community.

NagasawaIf you think about it in the same way as so-called corporate activities, you will inevitably end up with profit-oriented goals such as ``Increase loans,'' ``Get deposits,'' and ``Increase the number of products''. But those values have changed. We are a regional financial institution, not a corporation, but a cooperative organization. I believe that it is important to recognize the diverse ways of thinking and businesses of the diverse people who make up the region, and to create a system in which we can support them.
I think that Shibuya is particularly so, but there are many businesses such as NPO groups and individuals, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. I'm trying to do my best to be close to and support what these people want to achieve.

Osada supporting each other with the locals, the Shibuya sales department celebrated its 100th anniversary this year (2022), right?

Nagasawa Yes. There are many customers who have been doing business with us for a long time, and I strongly feel their love for the city. Also, while there are people who have been watching over the culture of this town, Shibuya is also the city of its founding. While helping the young generation to start a business, creating a place where people from long-established businesses in Shibuya and people who are about to start a business can meet will lead to the expansion of various value creations. I feel that being able to do such a collaboration is one of the fun things about Shibuya.

Osada are able to do this type of matching because we are rooted in the community on a daily basis and are able to pick up on the diverse issues and needs of diverse people.

NagasawaI believe that by playing the role of a hub, we can make everyone in the community happy. The other day, Mr. Osada also came to the "Business Fair".

Osada was a lot of fun, wasn't it?

*"Business Fair"
The Seibu Shinkin Bank has held this event continuously since 2000 with the aim of expanding business opportunities for local SMEs. In 2022, it was held at Shibuya Hikarie in November.
https://www.shinkin.co.jp/seibu/information/new/2022/business_fair2022.html

NagasawaThankfully, about 4,500 people came this year. So we were able to create about 2,600 matches.

Osada is amazing!

Moving forward with the community——A corporate culture that returns to its origins and transforms itself

Osada Seibu Shinkin is also focusing on SDGs initiatives, isn't it?

NagasawaThere are many, but to give a few examples, the first is donation-type time deposits. This is a product in which customers make a fixed deposit for one year and donate 20% of the interest. And we will also donate the same amount as the donations that have gathered. Donations are used not only for environmental issues, but also for welfare in recent years.

We also make donations to local chambers of commerce and industry every year, especially after the coronavirus, to revitalize restaurants, or in the case of Shibuya, to support the founding of businesses in the midst of such difficulties. I'm here. Among them, instead of just handing over money, young staff members who have been working for 10 years or less participate in the project together with the people of the town, which is a good way to contribute to the community. I feel that it is a form.

Other initiatives that include reforming the mindset of staff include, for example, collecting books that staff members have finished reading and clothes that they no longer wear and putting them to good use in needy households, etc. We are also working on reducing food loss by collecting food that can be preserved in a timely fashion.

Osada said earlier that we are a cooperative organization rather than a corporation, but I think you feel the significance of building deeper ties with the local community while working on initiatives that are in line with the SDGs. mosquito.

NagasawaThat 's right. The concept of social contribution itself is also changing. In the past, there was a part of me that was aiming to increase loans even more, thinking that "increasing loans is the only way to contribute to the community." Of course, this is also very important for finance, but I think that now is the time to go back to the origins of what a "cooperative organization" is.

For example, we created a new department called the Regional Co-creation Department. Regarding this regional co-creation department, we have set goals from the perspective of "how much connection can be made with the region" instead of such KPIs. I feel that our future mission is to see how much we can cultivate such a corporate culture throughout the company.

Role of Future Design Shibuya

Osada the story so far, I felt that it is the same as Future Design Shibuya in terms of becoming a hub for government and private companies, creating connections, and solving regional and social issues.
Mr. Nagasawa, what kind of organization do you expect Future Design Shibuya to play in the future?

NagasawaWhat I feel most strongly about is that we shouldn't decide "it should be like this."
Shibuya has a long history of locals who truly love this town, and new things keep coming in and mingling with them. Therefore, when various ways of thinking and values, or businesses and cultures are launched, Future Design Shibuya is to create an environment where we can accept each other, rather than presenting the answer "this is how it should be". I think it's a role, and it's also a part that I've learned a lot from being involved in Future Design Shibuya.
Private companies tend to want to reach a conclusion, but there must be cases where this is not the case. We are a "regional financial institution" with Future Design Shibuya stores and each region we are in charge of. I feel that if we can spread the word among our customers, we can be of some help.