Japanese market News

Japan Insurers Plan to Sell $3.1 Billion Worth of Honda Shares, Reuters Reports

Japan’s four top property and casualty insurers, along with other financial firms, are planning to sell around ¥500 billion ($3.1 billion) worth of shares in Honda Motor Co., Reuters reported. Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., Sompo Holdings Inc. and two units …

KKR Weighs Entering Private Credit in Japan to Challenge Banks

KKR & Co. is considering entering the private credit market in Japan to provide an alternative to bank loans. “It will be a medium to long-term initiative,” Hiro Hirano, the head of KKR Japan said in an interview. “I think …

Japan’s Insurers Surge on Buybacks, Unwind of Cross-Holdings

Shares of Japanese insurers MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc. and Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. surged after the companies announced stock buybacks, as well as plans to sell their holdings in client companies. MS&AD, which also reported full-year guidance that exceeded …

Bank of Japan Scraps Radical Policy, Makes First Interest Rate Hike in 17 Years

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from its focus on reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus. While the …

AM Best: Japan Quake’s Effect on Insurers ‘Manageable; KCC Says Losses to Hit $6.4B

The earnings impact on the major domestic non-life insurers of claims from the Jan. 1, 2024 earthquake in Japan is expected to be manageable relative to the sector’s net profit, according to AM Best in a market commentary. Japan’s four …

Japan Adds Rescuers as Death Toll From Jan. 1 Quake Rises to 64

The death toll in the wake of the Jan. 1 earthquake off Japan’s northwest coast rose above 60 as the government doubled the number of personnel dispatched to the affected areas to bolster rescue operations. The number of reported fatalities …

Update: Major Japan Quake Topples Buildings, Killing Nearly 50 People

The death toll from a powerful earthquake that toppled buildings in the Noto Peninsula on Japan’s northwest coast rose to nearly 50 as rescue workers searched for survivors trapped under rubble. One of the places hardest hit from Monday’s magnitude-7.6 …

Japan Orders 4 Non-Life Insurers to End Anti-Competitive Business Practices

Japan ordered four major non-life insurance companies to improve business practices in connection with anti-competitive activity that aimed to keep premiums high, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday. The order was issued to Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, Sompo Japan …

Buffett Watchers Tout Japan Insurers, Banks as Next Potential Value Targets

Warren Buffett’s buying of Japanese trading firms helped propel the nation’s stocks to multi-decade highs. Six months on, insurers and banks are emerging as the next potential value targets. Insurers have low price-to-book ratios, strong fundamentals and relatively high returns, …

Japan Casualty Insurers’ Shares Sink on Concerns Over Suspected Price Fixing

A price-fixing scandal at Japan’s biggest casualty insurers is escalating following a media report that the suspected collusion is likely to be wider than initially believed. Shares of Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc. and Sompo Holdings …