An Interview with Outside Directors (Sawako Nohara)

Traditionally, the Sompo Holdings Group centered on the domestic P&C insurance business. Currently, however, as well as developing the domestic P&C insurance business, the Group is transforming into a global entity that offers a varied menu of services. In other words, the Group is implementing strategies to realize a “theme park for the security, health, and wellbeing of customers.” These efforts accord with the Group Vision, which states that “Our goal is to always be the best customer service provider both at home and abroad.”
In transforming, the Group must make effective use of the growth platform of the overseas insurance business so that it contributes to the Group as a whole. I believe that another important task is to use the overseas insurance business and digital strategies as foundations to foster an innovative corporate culture that includes personnel with diverse expertise and backgrounds, pursues outside collaborations and M&As proactively, and responds to change flexibly.
As for corporate governance, the progressiveness of the Group’s measures merits praise. For example, at meetings of the Board of Directors internal and external executives have lively exchanges of opinions. Based on these discussions, the Group makes prompt decisions and implements reforms. Also, four of the five members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee are outside directors. With respect to directors and executive officers, the committee determines the appointment policy and the individuals put forward as candidates as well as deliberating and submitting recommendations to the Board of Directors in relation to evaluation methods, the compensation structure, and compensation itself. The committee has changed the Group’s compensation structure for directors and executive officers from a structure based on position to one based on the progress of each individual in performing their duties. By periodically deliberating the progress of the Group’s CEO in performing his duties, the committee evaluates his individual performance.
As an outside director, while focusing on the aforementioned points, I want to continue supporting and supervising the progress of transformation.