Thirty Japanese nonlife insurers will be forced to fork out a combined 20 billion yen in insurance and reinsurance benefits in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Hiroyuki Umemura, chairman of the Marine and Fire Insurance Association of Japan, said Thursday that most of the recipients will be Japanese firms that had offices in the World Trade Center in New York.
Umemura is also president of Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co.
"The effects of the payouts on those insurers will be limited," Umemura said.
He added, however, that the terrorist attacks will also force reinsurance companies to hike their premiums.
Reinsurance firms assume the risks of other insurers in return for a portion of the premiums received by the insurers from corporate policyholders whose coverage would be too large for a single insurer to bear.