Message from the President

My name is Koichi Baba, President & CEO and Representative Director of Tokyo Century Corporation. Since the merger in 2009, we have steadily expanded our business domain while creating new financial services that are closely aligned with the needs of the changing times. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the support and patronage of our stakeholders, which has made it all possible.

Our management philosophy is “to work alongside customers in pursuit of their growth and contribute to the creation of an environmentally sound, sustainable economy and society.” Tokyo Century envisions a society ten years into the future and aims to create financial services that will meet the needs of that time. Taking a backcasting approach, we have been expanding our business domain by promoting sustainability management and developing a unique business model that integrates “Finance × Services × Business Expertise.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed our lifestyles and caused a noticeable slowdown in economic activities. In addition, the pandemic has had a significant impact on the Tokyo Century Group’s businesses (mainly aircraft leasing and car rental businesses) and provided an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of how a company discloses information and the medium- to long-term perspective in corporate activities. More recently, the uncertain outlook for the Russia-Ukraine situation has fueled concerns about a surge in the price of resources and disruptions to the supply chain that may have serious implications for the global economy, which had otherwise been showing signs of recovery from the pandemic.

Consequently, as we look toward the future, I anticipate that the next decade will give rise to an operating environment in which our past experience will cease to be a reliable guide as we are expected to evolve and act with incredible speed. This environment is likely to be characterized by energy issues, such as those related to the decarbonization trend, and sophisticated communications brought about by 5G or even 6G networks. In such an environment, the strength of the Tokyo Century Group that is the driving force behind our pursuit of medium- to long-term growth is our propensity for business co-creation with business partners, a strength that our rivals cannot mimic. Moreover, the accumulated financial know-how as a financial services company and our diverse and highly specialized human resources enable us to collaborate with a wide range of business partners from various industries. Recently, we have been receiving offers to form business alliances from a variety of companies, and there has been a notable rise in the number of consultations.

Today, awareness of environmental conservation and resource saving is gaining ground. Meanwhile, we are witnessing a transition from ownership to use in which greater emphasis is placed on the convenience and experiences to be gained by using articles as opposed to the articles themselves. The popularization of subscription businesses is an example of this trend. Tokyo Century’s raison d’etre lies in focusing on the value of articles and offering various ways for customers to use them. We always consider the convenience of our customers to assist in the growth of their businesses and will consistently address the needs of both the arterial and venous sectors from the standpoint of promoting a circular economy.

Going forward, Tokyo Century aims to promote well-grounded businesses in efforts to develop sustainable businesses with an earnest focus on generating earnings while contributing to society.

We will continue to strive to be a financial services company supported by our stakeholders over the next decades. I look forward to the continued support and guidance of our stakeholders.