Mizuho Leasing Group's definition of "compliance" is "to comply with the laws and regulations and to practice honest and fair business activities in accordance with the norms of society." Duly recognizing that substandard compliance risks undermining the Group's very foundations, we are working to strengthen the compliance system considering that the "principles of compliance" need to be evaluated highly by shareholders and the market and to earn the trust of society.
To ensure thorough compliance, the Group has formulated rules and other materials based on the Basic Policy for Compliance. We have in place a structure headed by the Board of Directors and directed by the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). The CCO, together with the Legal and Compliance Division, is ultimately responsible and authorized to plan and manage compliance-related affairs as a whole, promote general compliance-related affairs, take preventive measures against money laundering, etc., and block any relationships with anti-social forces, etc., as well as grasp and control the state of the Group's compliance and provide guidance and supervision.
In addition, we have formulated Mizuho Leasing Group's Corporate Code of Conduct, which sets out specific action guidelines for directors and employees, and have published a Compliance Manual that sets out the Group's compliance standards, outlining key rules and regulations to follow and compliance activities to conduct during business operations. The Compliance Manual is also available on the corporate intranet so that directors and employees can refer to it easily in the course of their daily work. Moreover, as a practical scheme to ensure that compliance is thoroughly applied, the Group has created a Compliance Program. Through job level-specific compliance training such as that for general managers, theme-specific training such as that on preventing insider trading, as well as e-learning sessions, we are endeavoring to drive home the principles and standards of compliance to all of our members, thereby improving the Group's compliance and nurturing awareness.
To make early detection of misconduct in the workplace easy, we have established a whistleblower system through which employees can safely consult about and report organized or individual violations of laws by directors and other employees. In addition to providing an internal hotline, the system includes an external contact point at an attorney's office. A contact point for accepting reports is posted on the in-house intranet so employees can make a report at any time. The Group also takes appropriate measures and stipulates in its Rules on the Protection of Whistleblowers that a reporter shall not receive disadvantageous treatment for the reason of making a report, so that the reporter's workplace environment will not be adversely affected.
