Daiwa Securities' Equity Research Department is a group of analysts and strategists. They analyze and evaluate information released by companies, and provide stock price information and investment strategies and ideas to institutional investors (such as asset management companies, banks, insurance companies, pension funds).
International agendas, such as SDGs and the Paris Agreement, have gained much attention in recent years. Against this backdrop, a growing number of investors are using nonfinancial information in relation to the environment, society, and corporate governance when making medium to long term investment decisions. Therefore, in May 2019, Daiwa Securities established ESG Research Division, which specializes in handling ESG information, within the Equity Research Department, thereby putting in place a system for comprehensively analyzing and evaluating financial and nonfinancial information. The ESG Research Section works on writing analysis reports focusing on topics such as climate change, human rights and gender issues, corporate governance systems, and social impact, as well as holding ESG seminars and other activities.
ESG information will become more and more important for companies and society as a whole for achieving sustainable growth over the long term. We strive to provide appropriate ESG information in a timely manner so that institutional investors will be able to expand their investment returns in the medium to long term through responsible investment and purposeful dialogue (engagement).

Number of SDGs/ESG seminars held & participants

• 2021: 28 (3,326 participants)
• 2020: 23 (2,461 participants)
• 2019: 18 (699 participants)
• 2018: 15 (447 participants)

ESG reporting rate (individual corporate reports)

• End of FY2021: 95.0%
• End of FY2020: 87.4%

Daiwa Institute of Research (DIR), which assumes the think-tank role of Daiwa Securities Group, provides wide-ranging analysis and information to the public. At DIR, we consider it our mission to engage in comprehensive provision of information and policy proposal activities concerning the financial and capital markets and the real economy. We have always sought to provide up-to-date and in-depth information and a unique viewpoint that has not been presented by others. In order to provide information that satisfies the needs of the public, we also exchange information and hold discussions with businesses, investors, public institutions including governments and municipalities, and various economic groups, as well as overseas think-tanks and media. In this way, we are able to analyze the currents and trends of society and disseminate information.
We are also stepping up the release of ESG information, communicating wide-ranging information via our website and "DIR Research Quarterly Review" (our quarterly journal) regarding community vitalization, environmental problems, women's active participation in society, workstyle reform, corporate governance and other issues.

Provision of information by DIR through diverse media

• Number of reports posted on the website : 486 reports (Results for FY2021)
• Full texts of reports available on the website
• Number of recent hits on the research division's page : 4.99 million hits (Results for FY2021)

The Research Division of DIR conducts research, analysis, and dissemination of information centered on topics relating to domestic and overseas macro-economics and financial and capital markets. In response to the spread of COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine in particular, the division has focused on analysis and information dissemination concerning the future of the global economy and societies, which have been subjected to historical impacts.
The division set the path to recovery by the Japanese economy, issues and the future of financial and capital markets, and the pursuit of sustainability as the basis for areas of medium- to long-term focus and selected individual themes to address. Among them, topics for priority measures are expected to include new capitalism, household asset formation, SDGs/ESG, and zero emissions.
In recent years, rapid progress has been made around the world in the development of sustainability-related disclosure frameworks, and there has been growing interest among both issuers and investors. Led by the ESG Research Division, effort has been focused on researching, analyzing, and disseminating relevant information. In FY2021, the ESG Research Division published 14 reports and made 157 visits to finance and non-financial companies for the provision of information.
In addition, the Consulting Division is working to provide a variety of consulting services suitable for SDG management and ESG investment from a perspective of sustainability support. Specifically, the division provides optimal solutions from an SDG/ESG perspective for various issues faced by companies, such as management vision, medium-term management planning, human resource strategies, DX, corporate governance, and M&A strategies including organizational restructuring, and implements initiatives that contribute toward enhancing corporate value. Recently, in response to growing interest among customers in non-financial information, the division has also been actively working to provide support on environmental issues (TCFD support, etc.), human capital (introduction of employee wellness reports, etc.), and intangible assets such as intellectual property.

DIR has been releasing the Daiwa Regional AI (Regional Love) Index, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to calculate economic sentiment by region, since July 2017 to contribute to the development of regional society.
Japan is faced with the important issue of breaking the vicious cycle of population decline and contraction of regional economies to realize regional revitalization. To promote such regional revitalization, it is necessary to properly understand the current state of regional economies, in addition to executing the policies that suit regional characteristics.

The Daiwa Regional AI (Regional Love) Index utilizes a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) model and also incorporates economists' knowledge to calculate overall economic sentiment by region. It has the following advantages:

1. 1.demonstrating overall economic sentiment quantitatively and promptly by region;
2. 2.grasping regional economic sentiment in a historical manner; and
3. 3.enabling analysis of which fields (such as "consumption" and "exports") provide impact and cause changes in overall economic sentiment.

DIR also uses AI to analyze business conditions and regional economies. For example, it makes AI-based economic index forecasts and has developed a model enabling regional economies to be quickly understood by using alternative data (electricity volume demand data announced every day on the websites of power companies), which was rarely used for economic analysis in the past.

The Research Division of DIR adopts a variety of methods for providing information. These include the writing of reports; contribution to DIR Research Quarterly Review, newspapers and economic magazines; media interviews; TV appearances; lectures, seminars, and presentations at workshops; the publication of books, and participation in government councils as members. We strive to explain in an easy to understand way complex issues related to the economy, society, and policy issues within and outside Japan, while emphasizing the quality of reports. We ensure the reliability of our reports by requiring them to undergo review by a specialized section. As a result, the information we provide has improved in both quality and quantity, and we are communicating with customers on a continuously increasing number of occasions.

The Investment Strategy Department of Daiwa Securities issues the periodical "Daiwa Investment Monthly" and other publications as tools for communicating information to general customers. They are distributed to sales branches of Daiwa Securities and are also available on the Internet. By viewing "Daiwa Investment Monthly" with a smartphone, videos introducing individual stocks can be viewed. We are further evolving our booklets to make them easier to understand.
We also provide information in various ways to general customers, including books available through publishers, desk calendars with information on financial events, and wall-hanging market charts.

Webinars

Daiwa Securities Group regularly holds webinars where popular strategists and analysts of the Group appear as lecturers. These webinars can be viewed in real-time and participants can pose questions directly to the lecturers using a chat function, enabling numerous customers to receive market information and commentary on individual stocks through live seminars. Videos of some of the webinars are available for subsequent viewing, enabling customers to watch the webinars according to their individual lifestyles.
In FY2021, approximately 56,000 customers participated in these webinars.
We will continue our efforts to communicate market conditions and outlook and other information to even more people in a way that is easy to understand through our webinars.

(Total number of participants)

• FY2021: Approximately 56,000
• FY2020: Approximately 20,000

• Click here for the Official Daiwa Securities Group Channel (YouTube) ⟨Japanese only⟩

Daiwa Asset Management is dedicated to fulfilling its role as an asset management professional in order to achieve stable asset formation for investors in Japan. Its key emphasis in this context is on the "quality" of its products, management and support. Particularly for individual investors, its mission is to make investment trusts more readily used as a tool for asset building. And in order to provide higher quality management of Japanese and overseas asset classes, it develops and manages products not only internally but also in partnership with specialized asset management firms around the world.
This is why Daiwa Asset Management continues to take on the challenge of providing information to customers in a more timely and easy-to-understand manner through a variety of media. Especially for novice investors, the company communicates the need for asset building and how to best handle investment risks through sales company seminars. It also actively reaches out to a wide range of generations, including younger generations, utilizing content such as manga and videos, as well as collaborative programs with ShinR25, NewsPicks, and other online platforms that are popular among all generations.
In July 2021, Daiwa Asset Management established the Carbon Neutral Equity Fund (Carbon Zero). It is the first fund in Japan with a revolutionary scheme that aims for zero carbon in parts other than the investment part of the fund. In addition, together with sales companies, by making donations to tree-planting activities proportionate to the balance of the fund, the company is nurturing forests along with the assets of investors, with the aim of realizing a decarbonized society. In recognition of the initiatives of the fund, the company received the Governor's Special Prize for Green Finance in the ESG Investment Category of the 2021 Tokyo Financial Awards.
The Carbon Zero fund publishes a monthly "ESG Report" and an annual "Impact Report." The Impact Report explains to investors the fund's investment philosophy and the methods of investment used to realize that philosophy, as well as what kinds of positive impact investments have had on the environment and society and what kinds of companies the fund has invested in. The report endeavors to disclose information to investors so that they can make appropriate investment decision.

• Daiwa Asset Management website
• Special feature on the Carbon Neutral Equity Fund (Carbon Zero) ⟨Japanese only⟩