JAPAN POST ASSURANCE ARM WILL BE TWICE SIZE OF NIPPON LIFE

The assets of Japan Post’s life assurance arm Kampo Seimi Hoken will be about ¥113tn, more than double the size of Japan’s largest private life assurer Nippon Life, according to figures contained in Japan Post’s business plan, published yesterday. Shares in Kampo are expected to be listed in 2011, although full privatisation will not be complete until 2017. Under the business plan, Kampo would be permitted to underwrite larger sums of life assurance and would be permitted to expand into healthcare and accident insurance, plus variable annuities. Foreign players are opposing any expansion in Kampo’s portfolio while it still benefits from the distribution advantage it possesses with Japan Post. Japan Post estimated that Kampo would make a profit of about ¥193bn in fiscal 2011.