How Do Branch Managers of Regional financial Institutions Deal with Regional Revitalization: Results of the 2017 RIETI branch manager questionnaire (Japanese)

In January 2017, we conducted the "Survey on the Current States and Issues of Regional Revitalization and Regional finance from the View Points of Branch Managers of Regional financial Institutions" on 7,000 branch managers of regional financial institutions. We received responses from 2,868 people (41.0% response rate). This paper aims to explain the outline of this survey result. The main feature of this survey is that, rather than the headquarters of the regional financial institutions, the people who manage the bank branches which actually conduct business with customers are the subjects. We obtained the results suggesting the validity of the Business Viability Assessment and Regional Revitalization advocated by the financial Services Agency and positively promoted by many financial institutions. For example, a person who has a stronger awareness of "being able to work for local people" has a strong sense of "rewarding" to describe his or her current job, and the branch offices that are firmly engaged in the Business Viability Assessment tend to be workplaces that are rewarding for the staff. Furthermore, the staff of financial institutions that evaluate the ability to assess customers' viability as important qualities and capabilities tend to have improved in this aspect. Most branch managers consider Regional Revitalization to be the mission of financial institutions, but at the same time, they have experienced various obstacles when supporting client companies in collaboration with the national government and local governments. These situations must be improved to advance cooperation with them.