Stable stock prices have eased concerns about potential failure at the nation's nine largest life insurance companies, but they continue to struggle against shrinking business volume, according to interim reports announced as of Thursday.
In a war against attrition, aggregate volume of policies in force slipped for the sixth consecutive year, dropping 5 percent year-on-year to 1.066 quadrillion yen.
The result was that premium income fell at all but two insurers. Even at those two, gains were tiny: Industry giant Nippon Life Insurance Co. saw growth of 1.7 percent year-on-year to 2.7 trillion yen and midsize Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance Co. booked a 1.6 percent gain to 450.1 billion yen.
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