Sony Financial Group

Assets

At the end of 2021, the company owns:

• 100% в Sony Life Insurance Co, Ltd.
• Sony Assurance
• Sony Bank
  • Sony Payment Services
    • SmartLink Network

• Sony Lifecare
  • Lifecare Design
  • Proud Life

• Sony Financial Ventures

History

2021

US trial of Sony Life Insurance employee for embezzlement of $154 million

In December 2021, the US Department of Justice reported that a lawsuit was filed in federal court to return $154 million stolen from a branch of the Tokyo corporation Sony Group Corporation, and then seized by law enforcement agencies during an FBI investigation.

The agency reported that an employee of Sony Life Insurance Company, Ray Ishii, appropriated the company's funds in May 2021. During the transfer of money between corporate accounts, Ishii falsified instructions for making transactions. As a result, the money was transferred to Ishii's account in a bank located in La Hoya, California. Then Ishii transferred them to 3,879 BTC, the cost of which now exceeds $180 million.

Law enforcement agencies were able to track bitcoins that were transferred to an address belonging to Ishii, and then to a cold wallet. Investigators managed to get the private key necessary to access the address of the attacker. On December 1, bitcoins were seized.

Renaming to Sony Financial Group

On October 1, 2021, the company was renamed from Sony Financial Holdings to Sony Financial Group.

2020: Sony brings Sony Financial stake to 100%

On May 19, 2020, Sony announced its intention to make Sony Financial its 100 percent subsidiary. To do this, the corporation announced a tender for the repurchase of a 35 percent stake in a company that it does not own, for $3.7 billion.

The news was positively received by stock analysts. Shares of Sony Financial soared in price by 19%, and Sony - by 3%.

Sony fully buys financial "daughter" for $3.7 billion to become fintech giant

Under the terms of the tender, Sony undertakes to pay 2.6 thousand yen for each share of the acquired company that does not belong to it, which is 26% higher than its price at the time of the closing of the exchange on Monday, May 18, 2020. It is planned to complete the transaction in July 2020.

In mid-May 2020, the corporation warned that its operating profit for the 2020-2021 financial year, which will end in March 2021, could fall by 30% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively affected production and consumer demand.

Meanwhile, Sony Financial generates stable profits. The company's portfolio includes banking products, property and life insurance, credit cards and a care business for the sick and elderly in Japan, which includes about 11 thousand nurses. According to the results of fiscal year 2019-2020, which ended in March 2020, Sony Financial's operating profit amounted to 129.6 billion yen or about 15% of the profit of all Sony. Having gained absolute control over its financial "daughter," Sony plans to actively engage in fintech projects and compete with the leaders of this market.

The financial business has stability in Japan, "Sony President Kenitiro Yeshida told reporters and analysts at a briefing. - Full control of Sony Financial will help us repay the growing geopolitical risks.

For Yesida, this is the second major deal during his reign, which began in 2018. In November 2018, the corporation completed the acquisition of EMI Music Publishing for $2.3 billion. In 2019, a major shareholder called on Sony to sell a stake in the financial business, but the corporation's board refused to do so, citing the fact that this business plays an important role in the group's financial results.^[1]

Notes