Case study: How Kyushu Financial Group promotes a culture of responsible banking among its employees
Kyushu Financial Group delivers comprehensive financial services primarily across Central and Southern Kyushu, through subsidiaries such as Higo Bank, Kagoshima Bank, and Kyushu FG Securities. The Group’s core business is banking, complemented by other financial offerings including leasing, credit card services, trust operations, credit guarantees, and financial instruments transactions. As of March 31, 2025, the Group’s total loans amounted to approximately ¥9.1 trillion, with all of these loans (excluding the special international financial transactions account) concentrated within Japan on a consolidated basis. Of the loans excluding public ones, 57% were corporate loans, while 43% were personal loans. Kyushu Financial Group is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and is, accordingly, promoting a culture of responsible banking among its employees. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2025 PRB Responsible Banking Progress Statement by Kyushu Financial Group prepared in relation to its implementation of the PRB, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Which Principles for Responsible Banking have been addressed?
The Principles for Responsible Banking addressed in this case are:
- Principle 5: Governance & Culture
- Principle 4: Stakeholders
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- How Kyushu Financial Group proceeded with stakeholder identification and consultation, and
- How Kyushu Financial Group promotes a culture of responsible banking among its employees
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Stakeholder identification and consultation
Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.
Kyushu Financial Group emphasizes open dialogue and collaboration with its stakeholders to foster sustainable local communities. As a regional financial institution based in Central and Southern Kyushu—primarily in Kumamoto, Kagoshima, and Miyazaki Prefectures— Kyushu Financial Group is strengthening its relationships with local governments and businesses, fulfilling its responsibilities as a financial partner committed to working alongside the community.
- Establishing partnership agreements with municipalities for local revitalization
- Forming partnership agreements with local companies
- Engaging in domestic and international initiatives
How does Kyushu Financial Group promote a culture of responsible banking among its employees?
In its 2025 PRB Responsible Banking Progress Statement Kyushu Financial Group reports that it took the following actions to promote a culture of responsible banking among its employees:
In its Sustainability Declaration, Kyushu Financial Group has declared its support for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and that all officers and employees will actively work toward these objectives. Additionally, Higo Bank and Kagoshima Bank within the Group have developed their own Overall Sustainability Concepts, clearly communicating to all employees their vision to contribute to community sustainability through their financial activities. To cultivate a responsible banking corporate culture, Kyushu Financial Group provides training and educational sessions for all officers and employees. These include distributing internal videos to enhance understanding of the SDGs, conducting human rights awareness training, encouraging staff to obtain qualifications related to SDGs and ESG finance, and offering financial incentives to employees who successfully earn such qualifications.
UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet
With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.
FBRH Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Assurance:
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The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.
References:
This case study is based on published information by Kyushu Financial Group, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://www.kyushu-fg.co.jp/english/assets/pdf/csr/initiative_prb_01.pdf
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