Hitachi, Ltd. announced that it has agreed with Chiba Bank, Daishi Hokuetsu Bank, Toho Bank, and North Pacific Bank to establish a joint venture, TSUBASA Joint Administrative Center Co., Ltd., aimed at consolidating back-office operations for financial institutions. Based on the agreement, Hitachi and the four banks plan to establish the company in July 2026 and aim to begin operations in April 2027. The joint venture will jointly build a system platform that allows the four investing banks to conduct back-office operations such as fund transfers, account transfers, seal verification, and inheritance procedures in a shared environment. By dividing roles among the banks, the company will promote operational consolidation, improve efficiency, reduce system costs, and optimize human and financial resources. For inheritance-related operations, a new business system will be developed on the shared platform and is scheduled to begin operation in the first half of fiscal 2027. This is expected to enable full paperless processing across inheritance procedures at each financial institution. Hitachi will provide platform construction and operation services as well as business systems to the joint venture, while also participating as an equity partner. Drawing on its experience in building mission-critical systems for financial institutions, Hitachi plans to gradually promote autonomous operations through AI agents in the future and create an AI-native environment where people and AI collaborate. Through this initiative, Hitachi aims to help improve the profitability of the participating banks and contribute to sustainable development, including regional economies. Regional financial institutions in Japan face changes such as population aging, declining birthrates, and population concentration in urban areas. As a result, they urgently need to secure personnel, improve operational efficiency, optimize costs, and concentrate management resources on high-value-added services. Ho