Two years have passed since the occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Once again we would like to offer our sincere prayers to those who lost their lives in this disaster and our heartfelt condolences to all those affected by the earthquake and its aftermath. We also wish to express our deep appreciation to all those who are devoting tireless efforts to the arduous task of reconstruction.

April 2013 marks the third anniversary since the establishment of the MS&AD Insurance Group. During the past three years, we saw financial markets falter and we experienced many natural disasters of an unprecedented magnitude including the Great East Japan Earthquake and the floods in Thailand, and these events had a significant impact on our performance. These times of disaster, however, were also an opportunity for us to again recognize our social responsibility as an insurance company and the importance of our concerted efforts as a group to provide prompt claims payment that could put our customers' minds at ease without delay.

During the brief span of three years we made steady progress in our efforts to demonstrate the benefits of integration. In addition to creating Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance and Mitsui Sumitomo Aioi Life Insurance as the first stage of business integration, we integrated and reorganized shared service companies of administrative services and IT system and we made Mitsui Sumitomo Primary Life Insurance a wholly-owned subsidiary. We also entered into various strategic capital alliances and investments with overseas insurers and we developed new integrated systems in the area of non-life insurance.