Reeling from an industrywide scandal involving the systematic nonpayment of insurance benefits, major life insurance companies saw new contracts fall in the six months to September, according to earnings reports released Monday.
But unlike Japan's brokerages and banking groups, the life insurers were largely insulated from the U.S. subprime loan crisis thanks to investments in creditworthy securities.
Annualized new premium income at Nippon Life Insurance Co., Japan's biggest life insurer, dropped 25.2 percent to ¥104.9 billion in the April-September period as the company poured resources into making payments to policyholders who had not received proper benefits.