Three major Japanese life insurance companies showed reluctance to demutualize into stock companies at their respective annual meetings Friday after Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. did so in April.
At an annual general meeting of representative policyholders at Nippon Life Insurance Co., one representative noted its mutual company framework could make global expansion difficult.
In response, Senior Managing Executive Officer Yoshinobu Tsutsui said global expansion depends on capital bases and being a mutual company would not necessarily be an obstacle for such an expansion. "We will solidify our business base in Japan before our global expansion," he said.
Sumitomo Life Insurance Co., though having no plan for its demutualization into a stock company, will prudently decide what corporate form would be the best for Sumitomo, President Yoshio Sato said at a meeting of the firm's representative policyholders.
At such a meeting of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co., an executive said the firm has found problems with the demutualization, such as a balance between dividend payments and interests of policyholders.