Business Results
During the year ended March 31, 2005, total income decreased ¥1,891 million from the previous fiscal year to ¥89,136 million. Although Hyakugo Bank recorded growth in income from fees and commissions, including commissions on sales of investment trusts and insurance, total income decreased mainly due to decreases in interest on loans and discounts and in other income.
 
However, total expenses decreased ¥5,880 million from the previous fiscal year to ¥73,496 million, due to factors including a substantial decrease in nonperforming loan disposal costs. As a result, income before income taxes and minority interests increased ¥3,989 million to ¥15,640 million. Net income increased ¥1,018 million to ¥7,297 million.
 
Hyakugo Bank aims to be a bank that customers can truly rely on and that grows with the people in our operating region. We therefore began implementing a new management plan, the Second Management Plan of the New Century, in April 2004. In this plan, we have set our corporate statement “Frontier Banking” as our action guideline, and our goal is to achieve the objectives of the “Three Frontiers” and the “Five Foundations.”
 
In the initial year of the plan, we enhanced our selection of loan products. We began offering the Hyakugo Business Loan Manekineko to facilitate fund procurement for small and medium-sized corporate customers, and the Hyakugo Car Loan kurumade Go! and the Hyakugo Reform Plan, an unsecured home improvement loan, for individual customers. In addition, we energetically promoted mergers and acquisitions, syndicated loans, private finance initiatives and derivative instruments, and entered the securities brokerage business to meet the diversifying needs of our customers. We also put various measures in place to protect customers’ deposits from improper access by forged cash cards or other means.
 
In the second year of the plan, the year ending March 2006, we will work to solidify the foundation for achieving our targets in the final year of the plan under the basic policy of “Taking the Next Step in the Second Management Plan of the New Century.”
 
We continue to conduct wide-ranging corporate activities in areas including strengthening our legal compliance and risk management structures. Furthermore, we view Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which has recently been gaining attention, as meeting the various expectations of our customers, shareholders, employees and communities, as well as expectations in regard to the environment. We are implementing CSR activities to live up to the trust placed in us by society.
 
The management and staff of Hyakugo Bank will continue working to earn your trust by contributing to the development of the Mie region.
 


Hajimu Maeda
President