CONTENTS Letter to Shareholders 1 Brand Statement 2 Discussion & Strategy 4 Interview with President and CEO, Mr. Hara Daiwa Securities Group Inc. 14 Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd. 28 Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Ltd. 48 Other Main Group Companies 74 Consolidated Financial Statements 82 The Daiwa Securities Group/ 122 Overseas Directory Letter to SHAREHOLDERS The financial year to March 2001 was a mixed one for the Daiwa Securities Group. This report describes the opportunities and challenges we faced, the progress and setbacks we recorded and the strategies we have adopted in our journey to become Japan’s strongest securities company. In addition to the resources of our IR Department, this year’s annual report has been produced with the active involvement of over 25 of our most senior board members, executive officers and department heads who have col- lectively dedicated several hundred hours in providing information and reviewing texts. This in turn was done in pursuit of a single goal. That goal is to provide our employees, customers and, most particularly, our shareholders with sufficient information that they may arrive at a reasoned and independent assessment of our current business and future prospects. I hope that we have succeeded in this task. In the meantime, I would like to extend my personal thanks to each and every reader for the interest shown in the Daiwa Securities Group. July 2001 Yoshinari Hara president and ceo daiwa securities group inc. The brand mark is a graphical representation of The Daiwa Securities Group’s flight into the twenty-first century as a provider of superior financial services building on the three core values of the brand statement. 2 Brand Statement We the Daiwa Securities Group are committed to acting as our clients’ best partner and promote their financial well-being. In order to achieve this, we shall redefine currently accepted best practice drawing on the following three core values. We Shall Provide Products and Services that Exceed Expectations It is important that we apply detailed knowledge of customer needs, innovation in our internal processes and a strong customer focus to provide solutions that routinely exceed customer expectations. We Shall Bring the Full Strength of the Group to Bear Cooperation among Group companies sweeping aside traditional corporate barriers, a flexible approach to business and swift decision making will enable us to offer comprehensive financial services precisely geared to meeting our customers’ financial goals. We Shall Continually Challenge the Limits of Financial Best Practice Exploitation of our substantial store of professional knowledge and a pro-active approach to team build- ing will enable us to remain pioneers in our marketplace. 3 YOSHINARI HARA President & CEO of Daiwa Securities Group Inc. 4 Discussion & STRATEGY Could you please, in your own words, give us your and, as such, might be regarded as “as-expected” given the analysis of major developments affecting the Daiwa prevailing market conditions. Securities Group during the financial year under review? Needless to say, as with any company, there were areas where we feel we made real progress and areas where we The biggest external influence on our business during FY feel we need to make further efforts. 2000 was the rather poor situation pertaining in Japanese securities markets. The reasons behind this include the In some areas I am happy to say that the Daiwa Securities growing sense of a slowdown in the outlook for IT-related Group made a great deal of progress. This progress was businesses, which had performed the role of a global manifested in operating results in several ways. Allow me engine of growth, and growing anxiety in Japan about the to cite several specific examples. We achieved progress in future direction of Japan’s economy, which was beginning equity trading, M&A, structured finance, and in the IPO to show signs of a recovery. As a securities group, the markets at Daiwa Securities SMBC, our investment bank- Daiwa Securities Group, like all of its competitors, was ing arm, and successfully implemented the three-service- greatly affected by these conditions, which generally dete- package strategy in Daiwa Securities’ retail securities busi- riorated throughout the year. ness, where we are also steadily expanding our number of customer accounts. At other Group companies we report- In this environment, our consolidated revenues for FY ed higher ordinary income than in FY 1999 thanks to 2000 increased by 10%, to 718.1 billion yen. Ordinary stronger earnings in our asset management business at income was down by 21%, to 177.7 billion yen, and net Daiwa Asset Management, even as total investment trust income for the year by 39%, to 64.5 billion yen. net assets fell because of the stock market decline, and at Although our profits compared to FY 1999 declined to a Daiwa SB Investments as the result of solid growth in level that is certainly unacceptable to us, these numbers equity investment trusts. Daiwa Institute of Research, appear similar to those reported by our main competitors which manages our systems development and research 5 DISCUSSION & STRATEGY businesses, also improved its contribution. Finally, NIF market prices, however, so even under this difficult envi- Ventures, our venture capital operation, is well placed to ronment the net asset inflow exceeded more than 1 tril- go public during FY 2001, and Daiwa Securities Business lion yen. Center, our securities-related back office, made progress in several areas including acquisition of ISO9001 certifi- Certainly bearish sentiment in the stock market was a cation and Daiwa Real Estate increased efficiency. large factor that prevented us from achieving the asset growth we had planned in FY 2000. I believe the steep decline in the stock prices of IT-related companies made investors very risk-averse. Furthermore, at the introduc- tion of mark-to-market accounting, due to the effect of past investment policy, we were unable to introduce com- petitive products with the result that returns on our medi- um-term government bond funds and certain bond investment trusts were less attractive than those offered by the competition. This resulted in a reduction in the bal- In yet other areas we took steps that, although lacking an ance of bond investment trusts outstanding. During the immediate payback, nevertheless strengthened the current year, as mark-to-market effects have been elimi- Group’s foundations for future growth. Here I would nated, we are once again starting to compete on a level mention the establishment of Daiwa Pension Consulting playing field with the result that we are again starting to Co., Ltd. which will enable us to address opportunities see a flow of funds into Daiwa Securities. Our equity that will accompany the introduction of 401(k) style investment trusts were affected by the decline in the stock defined contribution pension plans in Japan. We also market, and the performance of some of our flagship took decisive steps to equip our staff, including those serv- funds, like those of our competitors, underperformed the ing at near-board levels, with the skill sets needed to com- main equity index during FY 2000. Overall equity invest- pete successfully in modern securities markets through the ment trusts were weak and the flow of funds into such inauguration of the Daiwa Management Academy and instruments has slowed dramatically. Before the start of other measures. FY 2000, we had anticipated that large amounts of capital would flow into the securities markets because a substan- On the other hand, there were also a number of areas tial amount of fixed-term postal savings deposits were set where there is room for improvement. At Daiwa to mature. Unfortunately, the majority of such funds ulti- Securities a core management objective is to increase retail mately remained in postal savings deposits, and the shift client assets under custody. Unfortunately, such assets fell of funds into securities markets failed to materialize to the by approximately 2 trillion yen since individual investors degree we had been expecting. became more conservative during FY 2000 as the stock market declined. This amount reflects approximately 3 Conversely, at Daiwa Securities SMBC, although we trillion yen in valuation write-downs due to the fall in recorded good results judging purely from the level of 6 profits recorded, this was very dependent on our success of 28.3 trillion yen, and a single A or better rating from in equity trading. The bond markets were affected by a the main credit rating agencies, we have suffered the reduction in profitable trading opportunities. This was greatest setback in client assets under custody, as I have aggravated by the introduction of the Real-Time Gross mentioned before. Settlement (RTGS) system for government bonds leading us to record disappointing earnings there. In addition, our investment banking operations were mixed. Our struc- In which case, have you rethought your corporate tured finance, mergers and acquisitions and IPO business- strategy or changed the goals outlined in the plan? es reported good progress. On the other hand, our equity underwriting business turned in a disappointing perform- No, we have not. As I mentioned before, the Daiwa ance and lagged our major competitors in the lead-man- Securities Group’s corporate strategy stresses new oppor- agement of large-scale global issues. tunities in the securities markets for both individuals and corporations. In the retail securities market, for example, we have been expecting a wave of investors new to securi- On the face of it, overall you would seem to have ties markets looking to increase returns while maintaining performed in line with your major competitors. In risk at acceptable levels through appropriate use of portfo- some areas the Daiwa Securities Group has done lio diversification.