Securities settlement - a mainstay of the Group's overall operations - is the delivery of stocks, bonds, or other instruments and funds both to and from the buyer and seller of a securities transaction. Settlement functions also serve as a social infrastructure, and therefore security, reliability, and convenience are important. In secure and trusted markets, financial instruments can be reliably converted into cash when necessary. This is the very reason why such markets attract investment money from all over the world and enable companies and others with funding needs to procure funds.

Any delay in settlement functions could lead to a loss of trust in the market as a whole, which in turn could have a significant impact on the global economy. Daiwa Securities considers it vital to settle transactions accurately and promptly as required in order to ensure that markets function as a social infrastructure and become a driver for economic development. It is therefore continually striving to build the best structure for ensuring the smooth execution of settlement operations.
For this reason, Daiwa Securities has implemented a reliable system that has high processing capability to reliably settle a massive number of transactions. In addition, the company is carrying out its settlement operations with the best mix of the digital world and the real world. This includes the digital transformation (DX) of its operations to ensure efficiency and greater accuracy and personnel with a wide range of knowledge and expertise to quickly grasp the situation and respond appropriately in the event of an irregularity.
Meanwhile, recognizing the need to further increase convenience and strengthen risk management in order to boost the competitiveness of Japan's financial and capital markets, the entire securities industry is working on reducing settlement time. T+1 (trade date plus one day) settlement began for government bonds in May 2018, T+2 settlement for stocks in July 2019, and T+2 settlement for domestic corporate bonds in July 2020. We are also continuously examining various ways to further improve the efficiency of settlement operations in collaboration with settlement institutions and other organizations.

We are determined to continue settlement operations no matter what happens. In accordance with such determination, we have drawn up a business continuity plan (BCP) and regularly conduct training in preparation for unforeseen circumstances, such as the spread of new infectious diseases, natural disasters, and terrorism.
The reliability of settlement is extremely important for maintaining customer trust. We will continue to meet increasingly sophisticated customer needs and quickly provide solutions by taking advantage of our reliable settlement infrastructure and human resources.

The Financial Services Agency of Japan published "Principles for Responsible Institutional Investors (Japan's Stewardship Code)" in February 2014. The Code, which has been revised twice, encourages institutional investors to fulfill their responsibilities of enhancing the medium- to long-term investment returns for their clients and beneficiaries by improving and fostering the investee companies' corporate value and sustainable growth through constructive engagement, or purposeful dialogue, based on consideration of medium- to long-term sustainability including ESG factors consistent with their investment management strategies.
In our Group, Daiwa Securities and Daiwa Asset Management have announced their adoption of the Code.

Daiwa Asset Management became a signatory to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in May 2006. It takes into account ESG initiatives taken by companies when making investment decisions, as it considers that such initiatives can lead to expanding growth capabilities over the medium to long term and reducing risks. Moreover, Daiwa Asset Management published its "ESG Investment Policy" in January 2020 to clarify its approach to ESG. In principle, the Policy applies to all investment strategies of the company.

After announcing its adoption of Japan's Stewardship Code in May 2014, Daiwa Asset Management renewed the announcement of its adoption of the Code in September 2020 in line with the revision of the code, and has since been continuously and actively fulfilling its stewardship responsibilities and striving to improve its initiatives. The company's basic approach to stewardship activities is shown in its Stewardship Policy. Details of its stewardship activities, including status of engagement (such as policy, structure, and a breakdown of activities by category), are released annually in its Stewardship Report. The report's name has been changed to Sustainability Report starting from the April 2023 issue. In addition to the existing contents, the report introduces the sustainability-oriented management that we are working on as a corporation.

• ESG Investment Policy
• Stewardship Policy
• Sustainability Report 2022

Daiwa Asset Management has adopted "Enhance Global Sustainability" as part of its action guidelines, and is taking systematic measures that will contribute to the sustainable growth of society.

Daiwa Asset Management provides all executives and employees with internal training designed to share knowledge of stewardship activities that should be undertaken by an asset management company as well as overall knowledge of ESG. As ESG, in particular, is a field where new initiatives are being taken daily, the company organizes study meetings aimed at the updating of specific themes as needed. In FY2022, the company held a total of three training sessions and study meetings, including training to deepen understanding of its stewardship activities.

Daiwa Asset Management places importance on investee companies' ESG initiatives as it considers that such initiatives can lead to expanding growth capabilities over the medium to long term and reducing risks. On the other hand, it became aware during dialogs with investee companies that the investees were struggling with appropriate methods for ESG disclosure and collection of information. The company therefore invites multiple investees and holds ongoing ESG-related information exchange meetings based on the idea that investees' sharing their initiatives and exchanging information with each other will not only be beneficial to the company but also to future initiatives of the investees. The first meeting in February 2021 was on the topic "gender diversity," and the second meeting in May 2022 was on the topic "human capital."

• Report on the 2nd ESG Exchange Meeting ⟨Japanese only⟩