On Wednesday, July 22, students taking the joint course "Financial Institutions" (taught by Professor Shinya Shimoda and Lecturer Atsushi Nemoto) offered by Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Commerce gave a presentation to executives and employees of Nishinippon City Bank on the theme of "The Role of Regional Banks in a Period of Rising Interest Rates."
This course is a sponsored program * that provides practical financial education over four months, with guest speakers including executives and employees from West Japan Financial Holdings group companies. Since April of this year, students have been receiving specialized lectures from various company representatives on topics such as digital strategy, lending operations, and solutions, deepening their financial knowledge and understanding of career development in the financial industry.
In their final presentations, each group presented their findings on the role required of regional banks in a period of rising interest rates, building upon what they had learned so far. By taking a multifaceted view of changes in the regional economy and customer needs, the students demonstrated the potential for new initiatives by regional banks from their own unique perspectives, such as establishing financial education programs for junior and senior high school students, preferential housing loan programs to encourage the purchase of vacant houses, and opening asset-building support accounts for students.
The presentations were reviewed by employees of Nishinippon City Bank and supervising faculty members, and the group that presented a proposal for introducing "Regional Contribution and Problem-Solving Focused Positive Impact Finance (PIF): A lending method that comprehensively evaluates the impact of corporate activities on the environment, society, and economy, and provides financial support for improvement and sustainable growth," which would support companies working to solve regional issues from a financial perspective, was selected as the winner of the top prize.
At the end of the lecture, Mr. Tomohiko Otsu, Deputy General Manager of the Regional Development Headquarters of the bank, gave a concluding remark. Mr. Otsu praised the students' efforts, saying, "Each group analyzed the difficult topic of 'rising interest rates' from their own unique perspective and proposed concrete solutions. The content was very interesting to listen to, and provided new insights and learning opportunities for the bank as well. I would be pleased if this lecture sparks further interest in contributing to local communities through finance."
