KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 (Bernama) -- Japan’s life insurers have increasingly relied on reinsurance in recent years, with the overall cession rate as a percentage of total gross premium written for the segment rising to more than 24 per cent in 2023 and 2024 from just under 10 per cent in 2020, according to a new AM Best report.
According to Best’s Special Report, “Japan Life Insurers Increase Use of Reinsurance,” the implementation of the Japan Insurance Capital Standard, or J-ICS, at the end of March 2026 has prompted insurers to increase their use of reinsurance as solvency ratios become more sensitive to interest-rate movements, asset-liability mismatches, policy lapses, and longevity and mortality risks.
“Japanese life insurers have been increasingly using asset-intensive reinsurance to transfer investment, longevity, and insurance risks from capital-intensive annuity and long-term life insurance blocks to third-party reinsurers ahead of the implementation of J-ICS.
“The maturity and size of Japan’s life/annuity insurance market make it an attractive opportunity for reinsurers providing asset-intensive reinsurance solutions,” said AM Best senior industry research analyst, Cynthia Ang in a statement.
According to the report, the heightened activity has led to a sharp increase in reinsurance leverage, with the industry aggregate rising to 14.8 per cent at the end of 2024 from 4.8 per cent in 2020. The metric measures reinsurance ceded as a percentage of capital and surplus.
AM Best's analysis showed that Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance Co, Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance, and MetLife Insurance K.K. each recorded reinsurance leverage ratios exceeding 500 per cent in 2024.
While only an estimated one to two per cent of total in-force individual life insurance and annuity business was ceded to reinsurers in fiscal years 2023 and 2024, cessions are expected to increase as asset-intensive and offshore reinsurance become more widely used by Japanese life insurers.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency is tightening oversight of such transactions due to concerns over private equity involvement, asset liquidity, and complex cross-border collateral arrangements, the report said.
-- BERNAMA
