Customer-Oriented Initiatives

SMBC Group companies are united in their efforts for customer experience (CX) and quality improvement in line with “Our Mission,” which states “We grow and prosper together with our customers, by providing services of greater value to them.”

We have established the CX Improvement Subcommittee as well as the CX Improvement Committee, through which we are advancing initiatives, reinforcing management systems, and promoting Group coordination related to customer-oriented business conduct.

Outside experts are invited to serve as advisors at meetings of the CX Improvement Subcommittee, where information is exchanged on how to fully entrench a customer-oriented mindset. Meanwhile, the CX Improvement Committee, which shares members with the Group Management Committee, deliberates on concrete measures based on reports from the CX Improvement Subcommittee.

The appropriateness and effectiveness of the “Customer-Oriented Business Initiative” are reviewed and evaluated by the Internal Audit Unit, and the results are regularly reported to the Group Management Committee and the Audit Committee which is an internal committee of the Board. Customers’ feedbacks, including complaints, are also reported regularly to the Audit Committee.

For information on our customer satisfaction and quality improvement initiatives, please refer to the following link.

SMBC Group considers customers’ "complaints and dissatisfaction" to be their expression of discontent. The Group classifies and analyzes them according to the content and causes of the complaints and dissatisfaction. The results are regularly shared and reported to the CX Improvement Committee, which is composed of members of the Group Management Committee, and its internal subcommittee, the CX Improvement Subcommittee, to discuss various measures necessary to resolve the causes of customer complaints and dissatisfaction.

Based on the results of the analysis, we will strive to further improve our products and services, as well as the responsiveness of our employees.

SMBC, SMBC Nikko Securities, and SMBC Consumer Finance have declared their intent to comply with the ISO 10002 (JIS Q 10002) international standard with regard to their processes for incorporating customer feedback into management.

We conduct various surveys to measure customer satisfaction. The results are shared among the group and used to improve products and services at the head office, and response to customers through feedback to front offices.

In order to provide products and services based on a "customer-oriented" approach, the SMBC Group constantly checks whether sufficient assessments and countermeasures have been taken against possible risks at the planning and development stages, and whether customer needs are being met. In addition, we regularly review the quality of existing services, and at the CX Improvement Committee, which is composed of outside experts and related department managers, we incorporate the opinions of outside experts to verify and discuss the initiatives of each group company and strive to improve the quality of our products and services.

With regard to employee education, we are continuously striving to improve employees' customer response skills and awareness of customer-oriented perspective and customer experience through various training programs, seminars, and study sessions held at sales branches. Training is systematized according to job duties, and training videos are posted on the company intranet to create an environment in which all employees can engage in self-development at all times.

Based on the Principles for Customer-Oriented Business Conduct (a guideline on fiduciary duties) released by the Financial Services Agency, SMBC Group* formulated its Basic Policy for Customer-Oriented Business Conduct and the Basic Policy for Customer-Oriented Business Conduct in the Retail Business Unit.

Based on the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s Basic Policy for Customer-Oriented Business Conduct, the Retail Business Unit shall adhere to the following conduct policies in offering service as a retail company that is responsible for providing wealth management and asset building services for individual customers.

In accordance with these policies, the Retail Business Unit shall implement a plan-do–check-act (PDCA) cycle that entails disclosing specific indicators, confirming and analyzing its status in relation to these indicators, and utilizing this information in the future to improve business practices.