Major Life Insurers See Operating Profits Drop

Jiji Press

11:24 JST, May 26, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Four major Japanese life insurers suffered double-digit year-on-year falls in their core business profits in fiscal 2022, which ended in March, due to ballooning insurance payments related to COVID-19, according to their earnings reports released by Wednesday.

The declines also reflected a rise in the cost of hedging foreign exchange risks amid rising interest rates overseas.

Meanwhile, all four firms posted higher insurance premium revenues.

Among the four, Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. logged the highest insurance premium revenue for the first time in eight years, taking over the top spot from Nippon Life Insurance Co.

Dai-ichi Life’s insurance premium revenue jumped 25.4% from the previous year to ¥6.64 trillion. The sharp increase came after Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary, expanded sales of foreign currency-denominated insurance products on the back of higher overseas interest rates.

Nippon Life saw its insurance premium revenue grow 18.3% to ¥6.37 trillion.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Nippon Life Managing Executive Officer Kazuo Saito said that the company “humbly accepts” the fact that it fell behind Dai-ichi Life in terms of insurance premium revenue, which reflects “trust from customers.”