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In April 2026, we celebrated the 25th anniversary since our founding in 2001. “Wouldn’t it be great if there were ATMs in convenience stores?” — Starting from this simple desire held by customers, the Company, since the time when it was known as IY Bank, has, over the past quarter-century, been able to establish convenience store ATMs as a vital part of social infrastructure thanks to the support of various stakeholders, including customers, shareholders, partners, and the stores that have installed our ATMs. I would like to express my deepest gratitude for this.

Looking back, the most memorable moments were the days when we were ardently striving to achieve our goal of becoming profitable within three years of our foundation. With our survival at stake if we couldn’t achieve this goal, what kept us going were the teachings of the late Toshifumi Suzuki (Honorary Advisor of Seven & i Holdings), who gave us tremendous guidance at the time of our founding. His teachings included: “think like a retailer, not a banker,” “discard conventional wisdom,” and “put yourself in the customer’s shoes.” With these words in mind, we put all our efforts into developing partnerships, developing systems, and restructuring operations. As a result, with the support of many customers, we were able to successfully achieve profitability. His philosophy remains deeply embedded in our DNA and continues to guide us today.

In 2007, in addition to completing the installation of ATMs in all 47 prefectures, we also took on the challenge of developing higher value-added services that could not be found in conventional ATMs, such as support for cards issued overseas, voice guidance for visually impaired customers, and cash top-ups for electronic money. The foundation for the distinctive strengths we developed during that period has since evolved into what is now our “+Connect” service.

Through these repeated challenges, we have steadily increased the number of ATM transactions, even as cashless payments become more widespread. However, recognizing that a revenue structure that is heavily reliant on the ATM business would limit future growth, we outlined two growth strategy pillars in our previous Medium-Term Management Plan, which we have been implementing since FY2021. The first pillar was to evolve our ATM business from a cash platform to a service platform, and the other was to expand growth fields that come after ATMs and diversify our business portfolio.

The previous Medium-Term Management Plan ended in FY2025. Unfortunately, we did not meet our financial goals of consolidated ordinary income of 250.0 billion yen, consolidated ordinary profit of 45.0 billion yen, and ROE of 8% or more. However, we achieved a new record high with consolidated ordinary income of 220.0 billion yen and secured a reasonable level of revenue in multiple businesses, demonstrating our steady progress toward diversification.

Our core domestic ATM business performed better than expected in terms of both the number of ATMs and the number of transactions. In addition to cash top-ups for various payment services, the range of services offered, such as My Number Card-related services and the Smartphone ATM service, expanded, resulting in a record high of 1.122 billion ATM transactions in FY2025. The “+Connect” service, which launched in September 2023, has been adopted by 51 companies as of March 2026. The “+Connect” service’s “ATM Teller” service was awarded the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Award at the 5th Nihon Service Award in recognition of its contribution to the rationalization and digitalization of partners. Through these unique and highly refined services, we support our partners’ DX initiatives while ultimately enhancing convenience for the individual customers they serve.

The retail business and overseas business, which strive for diversification, are taking longer than initially planned to increase revenue. In the retail business, while loan balances increased to nearly the planned level, account acquisition fell short of expectations due to intensified competition in a “world with interest rates.” The credit card business also failed to achieve the desired results amid competition among various payment methods. Although we face a fiercely competitive environment, we will hone the unique strengths of the Group and focus on acquiring accounts and loans from our target customer base. Furthermore, with the planned credit card renewal in the summer of 2026 as a turning point, we will move forward with the achievement of profitability as our top priority.

While the overseas business experienced delays due to the emergence of competitors in the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines, revenue in the previously struggling United States improved, and with the addition of Malaysia, which we newly entered during the plan period, all four companies achieved profitability. As awareness of our business grows, “retail × finance” services leveraging our ATM infrastructure are starting to take shape.

In conjunction with our financial results announcement in May 2026, we announced a new three-year outlook (FY2026-2028). Our goals for FY2028 are ordinary income of 280.0 billion yen, ordinary profit of 40.0 billion yen, and ROE of 8% or more.

Our top priority is to return to a growth trajectory in both revenue and earnings. We will focus on improving our top line, profit margins, and efficiency, and will implement various initiatives to achieve our financial goals as soon as possible.

Our core pillar of revenue, the ATM platform business, will expand awareness of the “+Connect” service and build a customer base not only among financial institutions but also among government agencies and business corporations, enabling us to reach a wide range of potential users.

In the retail business, we will leverage our strengths to provide highly convenient services, aiming to acquire active accounts, increase loan balances, and achieve a net increase in credit card membership. Moreover, the highly specialized corporate services provided by our domestic group companies, Bank Business Factory and ACSiON, also make up part of the foundation that supports the safety and security of society.

Among our various key initiatives, the ones that I feel are particularly significant as strategic foundations for the future are the “expansion of ATMs into FamilyMart stores” and the “evolution of the overseas business.”

Expanding into FamilyMart stores is not just about increasing our reach; it is also an opportunity for us to revamp our operational infrastructure. We see this as a time to shift from optimizing our own operations to optimizing the industry as a whole, and together with our business partners, we will explore new systems, including the restructuring of our cash delivery infrastructure.In addition, we are exploring collaboration opportunities across various financial services areas.

The overseas business has entered an important phase, evolving into a unique entity while responding to the specific needs of each of the four countries. Efforts are already underway in each country for integration with digital wallets for the unbanked (people without bank accounts), the provision of account opening services utilizing identity verification infrastructure, and the utilization of data through collaboration with retailers. We will go beyond simply installing ATMs and work together to create unique services that respond to social changes in each country.

Across the Group, we will leverage our unique strengths to create new services, win customers in new markets, and drive sustainable earnings growth, steadily transforming ourselves into a stronger and more profitable business.

Even as we advance the initiatives that will shape our near-term growth, our sights are set on a much longer horizon. Since the autumn of 2025, we have been developing a long-term vision with 2050 in mind.

The environment in which we operate is undergoing profound change. The rapid evolution and widespread adoption of generative AI, the continued shift toward cashless payments, the emergence of new solutions such as stablecoins, and the arrival of what is often described in Japan as a “world with interest rates” are reshaping the financial landscape. At first glance, these developments may appear to pose challenges for Seven Bank.

However, we have always viewed change as a catalyst for growth and innovation and we aim to further enhance our service capabilities by adapting to said change. For example, while a rise in policy interest rates increases cash procurement costs, it also presents an opportunity to accelerate our shift toward interest-rate-driven services and recurring-revenue businesses, strengthening the foundations for sustainable earnings growth. Adapting to ever-evolving technologies also strengthens our service development capabilities. We will actively pursue not only external advancements but also internal business reforms.

Our strength lies in our ability to provide safe and secure financial services through the physical touchpoint of ATMs. I am shaping a vision that leverages this unique strength. Specifically, this involves using “FACE CASH,” a face recognition deposit and withdrawal service, not only for ATM transactions, but also in situations involving important decisions, such as buying a house or a car. Recently, due to the growing threat posed by increasingly sophisticated deepfakes and cybercrime caused by the advancement of generative AI, safety expectations in the financial industry have risen dramatically. Leveraging our unique and highly secure physical touchpoints, I would like to take on the challenge of creating a new identity verification system that supports more safe and secure multi-factor authentication.

We envision a world in which financial services are seamlessly embedded into everyday life, enabling people to access the functions they need without even being aware of the banking or payment infrastructure behind them. To achieve this, we are entering the BaaS business and leveraging our ATM network, account and loan businesses, and Seven Card Service’s customer base to create a new financial experience as a unified Group.

It was once said that a company can only maintain prosperity for about 30 years. As change accelerates, that period will likely become even shorter going forward. That is why we have made fundamental self-transformation our highest priority, with the ambition of becoming a company that people will one day describe as “once a bank.” Starting with ATMs, our physical touchpoints, we will envision and realize a future co-created by a diverse range of stakeholders.

The driving force behind these growth strategies is our people. What we value most in our daily business decisions is our commitment to creating something that cannot be found in existing concepts, which is embodied in our Purpose: “We shape the future of everyday life by seeing your wishes and going beyond.” Innovation inevitably comes with challenges. Yet it is through overcoming those challenges that our people grow, creating a virtuous cycle that strengthens both individual development and business competitiveness.

We have built our own unique generative AI environment within the company, with the goal of having 90% of employees use it on a daily basis. Even in administrative departments, which are considered the most difficult to digitize, adoption is steadily progressing. Going forward, we will harness data and AI more effectively to fundamentally redesign the way we work.

From an organizational perspective, the focus of engagement measures is shifting from a “supportive workplace” to a “fulfilling workplace”. In FY2025, we were honored to receive the “CSA Award”,^＊1 reflecting the voices and firsthand experiences of young employees. Moreover, in the selection of the “DX Stocks 2026,”^＊2 the efforts of a wide range of departments led to significant results. It is the growth of our people that ultimately underpins our corporate value.

The growth of our employees ultimately contributes to the betterment of society. Creating Shared Value (CSV) through our core business has been a central theme throughout our history. We believe that meaningful social impact cannot be achieved through temporary initiatives alone. By building solutions to social challenges into our businesses and services and ensuring their economic viability, we can continue creating value for society in a sustainable way. This is the essence of our approach to CSV.

Currently, we are placing particular emphasis on account services for foreign residents. In principle, our system allows people to open an account at an ATM 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, immediately after entering the country, and access debit services.
In addition, in July 2026, we launched a financial learning service that helps children and families develop financial literacy through allowance-based experiences. On step at a time, we will continue creating value for society.