Japan: Non-life giant to hike insurance premiums
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Feb 2020
Japan’s biggest non-life insurer Tokio Marine will have to raise fire insurance premiums following huge natural disasters in recent years, the company’s president Mr Satoru Komiya has said.
According to Jiji Press, he said, “We’ll ask for premiums that match the reality of the risk in order to cover natural disasters.” Premiums should be adjusted by region based on risk, he said.
He also said losses at the company’s fire insurance business are offset by the strength of its motor insurance business.
Last October, the General Insurance Rating Organization of Japan, an industry group, raised reference rates for premiums for individual policyholders by 4.9% on average following the 2018 torrential rains in western Japan and other natural disasters that year.
“The reference rates don’t reflect data for 2019 [disasters],” Mr Komiya added, suggesting that further premium increases are inevitable. A