Japan's four largest private life insurers reaped the benefits of portfolio diversification in the year to March 31, data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows.
Nippon Life Insurance Co., Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc., Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. and Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. all profited from increasing interest income from bolstered investment in foreign bonds amid low interest rates in Japan. Earnings were further boosted by insurers' holdings in the domestic stock market.
Nippon Life, the biggest private-sector Japanese life insurer by both premium income and total assets, saw its net profit fall 19.2% to ¥243.93 billion from ¥301.97 billion in the year to March 31, 2017. A spokesman for the company said the decline was attributable to an increased liability reserve in addition to rising hedging costs in international bond investments.
Net income rose for the other three insurers, however, led by a 57.3% rise at Dai-ichi Life Holdings, to ¥363.93 billion. This was thanks to several one-time gains, including a ¥90.1 billion profit from corporate tax reduction in the U.S. for wholly owned subsidiary Protective Life Corp. and a share exchange gain of ¥33.5 billion from its investment in London-based asset manager Janus Henderson Group PLC.
Net income was up 18.5% for Meiji Yasuda Life and 24.6% at Sumitomo Life.
Overseas acquisitions also played a role in boosting some Japanese life insurers' top and bottom lines. Australia's MLC Ltd. and U.S.-based StanCorp Financial Group Inc. and Symetra Financial Corp. contributed their full-year results for the first time to Nippon Life, Meiji Yasuda Life and Sumitomo Life, respectively, in the fiscal year ending March 31.
As of June 4, US$1 was equivalent to ¥109.67.

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