Japan Post Insurance Co Ltd

TSE:7181

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q2

[Tetsuya Senda, executive]

I am Senda Tetsuya, President of Japan Post Insurance. Thank you very much for attending our financial results and corporate strategy meeting today.

Today's briefing is composed of 3 parts. First, I will review the first half of fiscal year ending in March 2023 and the growth strategies, followed by Mr. Tachibana, Senior Managing Executive Officer, on asset management. And finally, Mr. Onishi, Managing Executive Officer, on financial results and shareholder return. Afterwards, I would like to answer any questions you may have.

Please look at Page 2. There are 3 points that I would like to convey in today's briefing. The first is the status of sales. Although we have launched a new Japan Post Insurance sales system, the pace of sales recovery has been slow. Through dialogue with the front line, we have identified each issue one by one. And by working to address various issues, we will steadily recover sales performance in the future.

The second is about CX and DX. We will proceed to implement full-scale CX/DX initiatives. Not only will this enhance customer convenience, but also boost efficiency of operations. And we will shift management resources generated through greater efficiency to priority areas.

The third is asset management and shareholder return. We are responding to the changes presently occurring in the market environment with careful asset management. We secured stable profits, utilizing internal reserves to address capital losses and the increase in insurance payments for COVID-19. We will continue to implement a stable shareholder return in accordance with profits.

Then I will present a review of the first half of fiscal year ending in March 2023 and explain our growth strategies.

Please look at Page 4. I would like to explain a summary of financial results. Our performance has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as rising foreign interest rates and other movements in financial markets. We have neutralized this impact through the contingency reserves and price fluctuation reserves. As a result, net income was JPY 48.2 billion or 68% of the full year forecast and progressed well.

EV decreased by 5.2% from the end of the previous fiscal year to JPY 3,429.7 billion, mainly due to a decrease in unrealized gains of foreign bonds resulting from an increase in foreign interest rates, et cetera.

We plan to pay JPY 92 per share as full year dividend as announced in May.

Please look at Page 5. I will now explain the launch of the new Japan Post Insurance sales system. We shifted to the new Japan Post Insurance sales system in April this year, expanding the sales channels managed directly by Japan Post Insurance. We will develop personnel with a high level of expertise and know-how through meticulous training and guidance to consultants who visit customers' homes.

In addition, by providing comprehensive financial services across the group at post office counters, we aim to boost our sales capabilities through all sales channels while raising the contribution of the Retail division to 70% by the final year of the Medium-Term Management Plan.

Please look at Page 6. This page shows the status of activities of Retail Service division to which the consultants belong. The number of interviews with customers has grown strongly since April when we introduced the customer assignment system. However, this has not led to a corresponding increase in the number of proposals, and growth has been slow in the number of new policies. We aim to grow the market by firmly establishing the new Japan Post Insurance sales system as soon as possible, ascertaining potential customer needs and actively presenting coverage proposals.

Please look at Page 7. I will explain the status of policies. Growth has been slow in the number of new policies, but policy cancellations have been kept more than planned. We have established a sales target for the net increase in policies this fiscal year. As of September 30, we have not yet achieved our plan, but the difference is gradually shrinking. We will continue to enhance our sales capabilities and strive for a recovery in new policies and the retention of existing policies.

Please look at Page 8. We launched new medical rider, Motto Sonohi-kara Plus in April this year. Our launch of generous medical coverage with small death coverage has been hailed by customers as a good product, and sales have grown rapidly. The medical care portion of annualized premiums from new policies is increasing and is expected to contribute to the value of new business.

Please look at Page 9. I would like to explain the payment of insurance claims associated with COVID-19. Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, as our mission as a life insurance company, we engaged in ensuring the prompt payment of claims through measures such as immediate bank transfer on the next working day after claims are received and the introduction of a dedicated web page.

The payment of insurance claims for COVID-19 has increased significantly this fiscal year, but we have neutralized this impact of hospitalization benefits on net income by partially reducing the excess provision of contingency reserves and price fluctuation reserves. Moreover, since September 26, we have revised eligibility for payments for deemed hospitalization. As a result, hospitalization benefits associated with COVID-19 will decrease in the future.

Please look at Page 10. I would now like to move on to an explanation of our growth strategy. In addition to our initiatives for the recovery of sales capabilities in markets, we will aim to meet all protection needs and expand our customer base through the enhancement of insurance services. We will also engage in boosting the efficiency of operations while aiming to enhance customer convenience by promoting DX. On top of this, we will aim to create new services to grow the insurance business.

Please look at Page 11 for more details. First, I will explain our initiatives to address issues after the shift to the new sales system for recovery of sales capabilities and markets. At Japan Post Insurance, we identified various issues through dialogue with the front line during the process of shifting to the new Japan Post insurance sales system.

We have designated these as reorganization issues. By addressing major issues, such as the standardization of service levels through team operations under the customer assignment system and the creation of time for sales activities through a review of the flow of solicitation process, we will expand sales activities targeting customers whom we have hitherto been unable to adequately follow up or approach. In addition, we will engage in organizational and personal reforms to bring about the recovery of sales capabilities and markets.

Please look at Page 12. Next, I would like to explain the efforts to enhance insurance services. As we indicated in the Medium-Term Management Plan, we hope to provide products and services worthy of Japan Post Insurance that will meet the needs of customers of all generations and connect the generations. We will continue to develop insurance services to provide enhanced coverage to many customers.

Please look at Page 13. In October 2022, we implemented a policy renewal system to meet the need for continuing coverage after policy maturity as well as partial amendments to the content of products such as ordinary term insurance, special endowment insurance and quintuple-type whole life insurance. We are planning to revise our products again in April next year, and we intend to continue to develop new products and provide them promptly to our customers.

Please look at Page 14. I will now explain our CX and DX initiatives. We are progressively shifting to a business model that prioritizes CX while promoting DX initiatives such as the simplification of claims procedures and the commencement of online participation by specialists at the customer center when customers make new policy applications. At the same time, we are striving to boost the efficiency of operations. We will efficiently utilize human capital by having back-office work during the term of the Medium-Term Management Plan finishing in FY March 2026.

We will redeploy the human capital released through more efficient operations to customer support duties, thus enhancing customer support, increasing customer satisfaction and expanding our customer base.

Please look at Page 15. We have commenced the consideration of new services that support the lives of our customers to resolve social issues associated with inheritance and end-of-life activities in a super-aged society. By providing new services, we will expand customer trust and bring about business growth.

Please look at Page 16. We have promoted our in-house venture system and Acceleration Program when creating these new services, and we are currently verifying their viability. We also launched the Family Trust Service with Famitra Inc. on October 27 as part of our services for end-of-life activities and inheritance.

Please look at Page 17. This page shows the trend in policies in force during the period of the Midterm Management Plan. Through a company-wide effort to implement the strategies I just explained, we aim to increase new policies, halt the increase in policy cancellations and build a sustainable business foundation, targeting at least 20 million policies in force by fiscal March '26, the final year of the Medium-Term Management Plan.

This concludes my explanation, and I will be followed by Mr. Tachibana, Senior Managing Executive Officer.

[Atsushi Tachibana, executive]

I am Tachibana, Senior Managing Executive Officer. From here, I will explain about asset management.

Please look at Page 19. The left chart shows the amount of return-seeking assets and the ratio of them to total assets. At the end of September 2022, the amount of return-seeking assets, such as stocks and foreign bonds was JPY 10.5 trillion, which accounted for 16.3% of total assets, a slight decline from 16.7% at the end of March.

As a result, as shown on the right, investment return on core profit reached 1.9% for the first half with a positive spread of JPY 60.4 billion. Although JPY 13.4 billion in hedging costs related to foreign exchange and JPY 72.1 billion in capital losses were incurred, the impact on net income has been neutralized by the reversal of price fluctuation reserves.

Please look at Page 20. As I mentioned earlier, on the left you will find your asset management policy for this fiscal year. The figures on the right shows the present status of asset management. We have incrementally reduced our balance of hedged foreign currency-denominated bonds and shifted to yen-denominated interest-bearing assets in view of rising foreign interest rates and hedging costs and paying due consideration to the hedging cost potentially staying high for an extended period and the rate hike resulting in the price erosion of the bond.

Please look at Page 21. For alternative investments, our policy continues to accumulate investment balances sequentially in response to investment opportunities and with the scope of our risk buffer. We also formed a business and capital alliance with MITSUI & CO. in June this year.

In October, we invested in a new company established with the aim of cooperation between the 2 companies. We will use this business and capital alliance as an opportunity to cooperate actively with MITSUI & CO. on other partnership strategies as well, endeavoring to create new investment opportunities.

Please look at Page 22. We are making ESG investment under the priority themes of well-being improvement, regional and social development and contribution to environmental conservation as highlighted by the yellow box in the middle.

In addition to engaging in ESG integration and enhanced engagement, we will continue to promote efforts to address climate change, such as initiatives to achieve the GHG emissions reduction targets for our investment portfolio. We are targeting net zero by 2050 and as an interim target aim to have GHG emission by 2029.

Furthermore, as illustrated at bottom left, through membership support and application of ESG investment-related initiatives and taking advantage of the opportunity to present, we'd like to gather and disseminate information on our activities.

And as shown at the bottom right, we are also actively engaged in investments and financing aimed at creating an impact in solving social issues.

This concludes my explanation.

[Toru Onishi, executive]

I am Onishi, Managing Executive Officer. I will now explain our business performance and shareholder return.

Please look at Page 24. In the 6 months ended September 30, 2022, we achieved net income equivalent to 68% of the full year forecast due to a greater-than-planned positive spread and lower-than-planned expenses.

Ordinary profit was only 21.6% of the full year forecast due to an increase in capital losses associated with changes in the market environment. However, the impact on net income was offset through a reversal of the price fluctuation reserves.

Our financial results forecast remains unchanged. Going forward, we will properly make announcements when revisions to the forecast become necessary.

Please look at Page 25. I will now explain the trend in net income. The net income forecast for FY March '23 is JPY 71 billion due to factors such as an anticipated rise in operating expenses associated with the shift to the new Japan Post Insurance sales system. Despite upfront expenditure to establish the new system, we aim to achieve the net income target of JPY 91 billion for the final year of the Medium-Term Management Plan by engaging in management improvements such as the establishment of sales promotion with appropriate solicitation quality.

Please look at Page 26. The graph shows the transition of ESR. The ESR was 168% as of September 30, 2022, with a small change from March 31, 2022. The rising interest rates in Japan and overseas mainly caused the decrease both in capital amount and the risk amount.

Please see Page 27. I will explain about ERM and capital policy. Anticipating the introduction of the new solvency regulations in 2025, we aim for medium- to long-term ESR stability.

Increasing the capital amount through the strategy implementation of the Medium-Term Management Plan as well as taking various risk control measures, we will address both capital and risk.

Please look at Page 28. Lastly, I will explain our shareholder return. No change has been made to our previously announced shareholder return policy, and we plan to pay dividends of JPY 92 per share as initially forecast.

In August this year, we decided to acquire up to JPY 35 billion of treasury stock as shareholder return for FY March '22. And we anticipate a total payout ratio for fiscal year March '22 of approximately 45%. The scheme of this treasury stock acquisition is explained on the next page.

Please look at Page 29. Under the treasury stock acquisition scheme, roughly equal numbers of shares are acquired from general shareholders in Japan Post Holdings, thereby maintaining the ratio of voting rights of Japan Post Holdings at 50% or less.

For the acquisition of treasury stock decided in August this year, we have already completed the off-auction purchase of shares from Japan Post Holdings. And we are in the process of purchasing shares from general shareholders through trading on the auction market.

We will continue to recognize that shareholder return is an important policy of management and will maintain sound management while distributing stable profits to shareholders.

This concludes my explanation. Thank you.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]