The financially ailing Taisho Life Insurance Co. said Wednesday that it has avoided possible collapse by securing a pledge of 4.5 billion yen in fresh capital through outside funding.
Taisho Life officials told a news conference that the midsize insurer's solvency margin ratio at the end of March had fallen to 67.7 percent, after its auditors demanded in late May that its earnings reports be revised.
The 67.7 percent -- way below the 200 percent insurers are expected to secure -- is also significantly lower than the firm's original estimate of between 240 percent and 250 percent.