A customer's purchase of a product is only the beginning of a securities company's relationship with the customer. Follow-up is the key to maintaining and solidifying the relationship of trust built with the customer.
To alleviate customer dissatisfaction or concerns arising after transactions, we offer thorough explanations, appropriate proposals, and information regarding market conditions, products, and services. We have also expanded the use of emails and online meetings, as well as face-to-face meetings, telephone and other conventional methods, thereby developing a system enabling us to provide appropriate follow-up to as many customers as possible.

In FY2018, Daiwa Securities introduced NPS® (Net Promoter Score) as an in-house indicator for measuring customer satisfaction.
The score measures the degree of customer recommendation and is considered to correlate closely with business performance. We position it as one of our most important management indicators.
When introducing NPS®, we implemented sales reforms successively at individual branches to ensure that the aim of the introduction is well understood and established among employees, rather than them merely adopting the score. Thus, it took a year to complete the introduction of the score at all branches.
We will further step up our efforts to carry out sales activities from the customer perspective. At the same time, we will build a scheme for implementing a PDCA cycle that incorporates customer feedback and makes improvements, and continuously work to improve NPS®.

• *NPS® is a registered trademark of Bain & Company, Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems.

Daiwa Securities strives to provide in-branch services that can satisfy any customer.
With the aim of creating sales branches enabling elderly customers and customers with disabilities to feel secure, we have placed dementia supporters^*1 and employees with service assistant^*2 certifications, mostly comprising employees engaged in in-house customer service.
Moreover, in order to ensure that our sales branches are accessible to more customers, we implement a range of barrier-free measures, including reduced variations in floor level, the installation of automatic doors and larger counters, and the placement of cane holders at all counters.
We have also been stepping up our efforts to enhance safety and convenience for elderly customers and customers with disabilities visiting our sales branches. As part of such efforts, we place and make ready for use writing communication boards, communication sheets, cane holders, hearing assistance devices, and other equipment.

1. *1Dementia supporter
   A dementia supporter is a person who properly understands dementia and pays warm attention to people with dementia and their families. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has been stepping up the training of supporters across the country as part of its "Dementia Supporter Caravan" project.
2. *2Service assistant
   A service assistant is a person certified as having acquired hospitality and safe assistant skills for providing tailored support for elderly customers and customers with disabilities.

Daiwa Securities has placed Anshin (peace of mind) Planners and Inheritance Consultants as an initiative to provide each one of our elderly customers with optimum consulting and solutions.
Anshin Planners are mainly responsible for elderly customers, providing comprehensive consulting for customers in their later years. The scope of the Planners’ work is not limited to asset management but includes the provision of information on health, long-term care, etc. and solutions in relation to gifts, inheritance, etc. to next generations.
Inheritance Consultants are professional staff members appointed from among employees with CFP® certifications who have highly specialized knowledge of inheritance and gifts.
We work to provide optimum support to every customer we serve by subdividing our services according to the life stage of each customer and making careful proposals.
In addition to these initiatives, we are focusing on an Inheritance Planner Certification® in order to further develop inheritance and business succession professionals. An Inheritance Planner Certification® is granted to candidates selected from among employees with CFP® certifications after they undergo certification training designed to help them acquire a deeper knowledge of inheritance and business succession. It is an in-house credential at Daiwa Securities.

• *CFP^® is a financial planner credential certified by the Japan Association for Financial Planners. A CFP^® holder has specialized knowledge of asset management, taxation, etc.

Daiwa Securities holds a variety of seminars to provide information to customers. Sales branches handle a broad range of topics in their seminars, such as information on Japanese and overseas markets; programs targeting the asset building generation, including the installment-type Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) and iDeco, a defined contribution pension plan for individuals; and inheritance and gifts that alleviate concerns about old age.
We also regularly hold live online seminars which customers can participate in wherever they are. In January 2022, we presented the New Year Webinar on four topics: Market Outlook, U.S. Stock Outlook, Chinese Stock Outlook, and Inheritance.
Going forward, we will work to successively expand our online seminars.

Daiwa Securities has been accepting applications for NISA accounts since the initiation of the program. In particular, we actively introduce the program to customers, especially those in the asset building stage, in order to encourage more customers to start making investment in installments. We are also stepping up our initiative to propose the introduction of the workplace installment-type NISA. The program enables individuals to build assets systematically by setting aside a fixed amount each month for investment through their workplaces.

Daiwa Securities opened "SODATTE," an information website for child rearing and money, in April 2016 for the child-rearing generations. With six years having passed since its opening, it has grown to be a website visited by many fans, with more than 350 columns and more than 650,000 page view per month. The website sets up six categories, including "Money Lessons," "Family Finances" and "Education Funds," and disseminates columns that provide tips to child-rearing generations.
As part of our initiative for financial education, we also released "A-I-U-E-Okane-no-ehon" on the website. It is a digital picture book that helps small children to deepen their interest in and understanding of money while learning hiragana.
We will continue to update columns monthly as an information site that provides practical support on child rearing for parents and enables them to learn in an enjoyable way.

• SODATTE ⟨Japanese⟩

Employees at the Contact Center, which serves as our comprehensive remote contact point, have direct contact with customers and play an increasingly crucial role not only as a transaction channel but also in customer support and marketing. In order to maintain and improve contact center operations to meet the demand for high-quality service, we provide training and regular level checks for all Telephone Service Representatives (TSR). We thus strive to appropriately respond to customers' true needs.

Contact Center Functions

The Contact Center has been a key channel for transactions, supporting the company's business model whose cornerstones are Daiwa Consulting and Daiwa Direct transaction courses. The center now handles calls coming in to sales branches and some dialing support work, thereby acting as Daiwa Securities' comprehensive remote contact center for customers.
To strengthen the functions of the center, we first expanded the scale of the service points in Tokyo and Osaka in 2014 and then established a contact center function in Fukuoka in 2016 as our third service point. We also enlarged the floor area of our service point in Osaka in 2017.
In addition, since 2020, we have also been expanding the functional aspects, including taking over some of the customer support operations of our sales branches.
By further expanding our customer response capability, we aim to enhance our support functions for sales branches going forward to increase customer convenience.

Achieving High Ratings from Two External Institutions

In J.D. Power Japan's "J.D. Power 2021 Contact Center Support Satisfaction Study," Daiwa Securities was ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction in the face-to-face securities category. And in HDI-Japan's 2021 benchmark rating program, we earned the highest possible rating of three stars in both the Customer Support and Website Support categories for the securities industry.

Customer Feedback Sent to Contact Center

The Contact Center receives numerous comments and requests on online trading and Daiwa Securities' other products and services.
We share such customer feedback information and requests with management and relevant departments and sections of the head office and utilize them to enhance our services and customer interaction. (The number of major improvements implemented in FY2018 was 85.)
We also show some of the inquiries received from customers on our website as "frequently asked questions," while sharing them with sales branches in some cases to speed up our responses. We are thus working to raise customer satisfaction from various perspectives.

Number of cases in FY2021 where responses were taken to customer feedback and requests

• 56 cases (in 26 of which responses were completed)

Daiwa Securities' Customer Support Center is a department at the head office that handles customer feedback and complaints directly by phone. It is set up within the Compliance Department of Daiwa Securities.
The Center promptly gives feedback and complaints from customers to relevant sales branches and departments and sections of the head office. It also sorts and analyzes such feedback and complaints, shares them with officers, sales branches, and head office departments and sections, and capitalizes on them as precious information in the aim of "customer-first operations" and "pursuit of best quality."
To respond to customers' calls thoroughly, accurately, and promptly, Customer Support Center members study the securities tax code and Daiwa Securities' services together on a daily basis, and work to improve the quality of their customer services.

Inquiries and Complaints Received at the Customer Support Center in FY2021

• Number of calls received: 4,382 calls (up 452 calls)
  Inquiries: 90%
  Complaints: 10%
• Based on customer feedback, we have made a number of improvements. For example, we have simplified documents we ask customers to fill in. We have also revised product information on our website to make such information easier to understand, while changing our online branch visit reservation system so that customers find it easier to enter information.