Three of Japan's four major life insurance companies enjoyed insurance premium income growth in April-September, their earnings reports have shown.
All the four — Nippon Life Insurance, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, Sumitomo Life Insurance and Dai-ichi Life Holdings — saw their single-premium whole life insurance policies and savings-type products attract stronger domestic demand amid rising interest rates.
Insurance premium revenues rose 30.4% from a year earlier at Meiji Yasuda, 13.4% at Nippon Life and 4.0% at Sumitomo.
Higher interest rates are "very beneficial," Sumitomo Managing Executive Officer Nobuji Takao said.
But Dai-Ichi Life suffered a premium revenues drop of 7.4% due to weaker sales of foreign currency-denominated products at a group insurance firm.
Meanwhile, Nippon Life's core operating profit expanded 27.4% to rewrite a record high as investment profit went up on higher interest and dividend income. Still, its Executive Vice President Naoki Akahori called for vigilance against volatile markets. "Neither political nor economic conditions warrant optimism," he said.
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