Michał Trochimczuk: It was announced that Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, two companies within the Group, will be merged by April 2027. Your company has been working to improve the efficiency and quality of operations through the “One-platform Strategy”, but how do you plan to integrate the systems of the two companies in preparation for the merger? Could you also tell us what your current thoughts are on your IT and DX (digital transformation) strategies after the merger?

Shinichiro Funabiki: Under the Group's medium-term management plan (2022–2025), we have been working to improve the efficiency and quality of operations through the “One-platform Strategy”. This strategy promotes the standardisation, collaboration and integration across the middle- and back-office divisions of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance.

The merger is part of a new business transformation aimed at breaking away from the conventional business model and creating a virtuous cycle of growth and trust. In particular, from the perspective of the expense ratio, we believe that fundamental structural reform of the business is necessary to achieve a level below the global benchmark of 30%. To realize this transformation, we will promote major decommissioning and integration of outdated systems that have fulfilled their roles, significantly lowering operating and maintenance costs – the core components of our IT cost structure – thereby improving our business operations and reducing operating expenses.

In addition, we believe it is necessary to incorporate new value into the Group-wide systems by strengthening our ability to adapt flexibly to the unprecedented environmental changes and globalisation, ensuring resilience, and strengthening cyber security measures. Following the merger, we will pursue a customer-oriented approach by investing in the next-generation systems and DX-related technologies, aiming to establish a new source of profit for the new company.

Michał Trochimczuk: Your company has identified strengthening pre- and post-compensation/coverage solutions, as well as reducing the expense ratio through the use of data, digital technology and AI, as key pillars of its management strategy. To achieve these goals, developing human capital is of paramount importance. Please could you tell us about your company's IT and digital human capital development policy and specific initiatives?

Shinichiro Funabiki: The issues facing society, such as global warming, the biodiversity crisis, falling birthrate, ageing population and cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly complex and diverse. Given these issues, we are fostering digital talent, including data scientists with deep expertise. These professionals leverage a wealth of accumulated data and the latest analytical technology to quickly identify and visualise previously undetectable risks, thereby supporting our customers' preparedness.

In addition to the original functions of insurance, we will deliver the most valuable products and services to customers and society by strengthening the solutions we provide both before and after compensation and coverage. In this period of rapid change in the business environment, we aim to leverage our global competitiveness and translate it into sustained growth.

Data, digital technologies and AI support the enhancement of solutions both before and after compensation and coverage. At the same time, we are promoting bold reforms to enhance customer satisfaction and convenience, as well as to improve productivity for both us and our agents by digitising all insurance-related procedures. In addition, we will seek to make our products and procedures easier to understand from the customer's point of view, and optimise the structure of our IT systems accordingly, thereby changing our profit structure.

We believe that the use of AI is key to promoting operational efficiency, and we have already created an environment in which approximately 30,000 employees can safely use generative AI, and many examples of improved operational efficiency have emerged. Our Group has collaborated with multiple universities and focused on developing digital and innovation talent since 2018. We plan to increase the number of digital human resources to approximately 7,000 by 2025, and together with around 100 data scientists, we expect them to lead the digitalisation process. In addition, to increase the effectiveness of operations using AI, we will accelerate our efforts by proactively engaging external expertise and specialists from within and outside the company as necessary.

Through this merger, we will become the No. 1 insurance company in Japan in terms of premium income. As a company of this scale, we feel that we are expected to play a significant role in social safety and contribute to economic development. We also recognize the expectation to strive for world-class corporate value, to further enhance the value we deliver to customers by leveraging data, digital technologies, and AI. We believe that this is essential for becoming “the insurance company most chosen by customers.”