Latest Japan Headlines

All the headlines from our Japan Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Spain’s MAPFRE, Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Reinforce Collaboration Pact

May 26 2011 // MAPFRE, a major non-life insurance group in Spain and Latin America, and MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE (MSI), Japan’s principal non-Life insurance group in Asia, announced that they have “extended their framework...

Catastrophes Issue Wake Up Call on Supply Chain Risks

May 24 2011 // The Japanese earthquake and tsunami that occurred in March 2011 served as a wake up call of sorts for businesses vulnerable to supply chain exposures. Subsequent intense weather events in the United States during April and...

P/C Insurers Facing Record Losses from Weather

May 24 2011 // Devastating tornadoes, floods, earthquakes overseas and a busier-than-usual hurricane season have U.S. insurance companies bracing for record losses in 2011.Insurers could suffer as much as $10 billion from weather-related...

Cat Bond Investors Not Scared Off by Japan Quake

May 16 2011 // The catastrophe bond market seems to have survived the Japanese earthquake, its biggest test since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, with investors still likely to consider the sector despite millions of dollars of...

Survey: Commercial Lines Prices Fall 3% in Q1

May 16 2011 // Commercial property/casualty pricing declined again with an average decline of 3 percent in the first quarter of 2011. But according to a new industry survey, the pace of pricing declines may be slowing down.The market...

How to Prevent E&O Lawsuits for Black Swan Risks

May 16 2011 // The timeless maxim- “think globally, act locally” – coined in 1915 by social activist Patrick Geddes, underscores the vital importance for insurance agents to really think through the scope of their...

Lloyd’s Estimates Losses from Q1 Disasters at $3.8 Billion

May 13 2011 // After careful calculation Lloyd’s has announced its estimated net claims before tax from the earthquakes this year in Japan and New Zealand and the January 2011 floods in Australia. The current net estimates were...

Japan Approves Tepco Nuclear Claims Plan; Banks’ Help Eyed

May 13 2011 // Japan’s government agreed on Friday to set up a fund with taxpayer money to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant and avoid financial collapse.The government...

Japan Aims for Tepco Compensation Scheme this Week

May 11 2011 // Japan’s trade minister said he was aiming for cabinet approval this week of a government-backed scheme to help Tokyo Electric Power pay for damages caused by the crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.Earlier...

EQECAT Raises Japan Quake/Tsunami Loss Estimates to $22-$39 Billion

May 10 2011 // Catastrophe modeling firm EQECAT has updated its market loss estimate of $12-$25 billion, issued on March 16, for the March 11 M9 Tohoku Earthquake. EQECAT said that, based on the latest information available, it is...

Tokyo Electric Pleads for Government Help on Compensation

May 10 2011 // The head of Tokyo Electric Power on Tuesday asked Japan’s government to help shoulder the burden of compensating those displaced by the crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a bill that is expected to run to...

AIG Reports $1.5B Net Income Loss in Q1

May 6 2011 // American International Group posted a loss from continuing operations in the first quarter as it recorded a charge of more than $3 billion related to its recapitalization and termination of its credit facility from the...

Survey: Commercial Lines Prices Fall 3% in Q1

May 4 2011 // Commercial property/casualty pricing declined again with an average decline 3 percent in the first quarter of 2011. But according to a new industry survey, the pace of pricing declines may be slowing down.The market showed...

Japan’s Edano: No limit on Tepco Nuclear Compensation Claims

May 2 2011 // Japan’s government will not put a cap on the liabilities faced by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) for damages stemming from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said...

Japan Quake Reveals Cracks in Insurance System

May 2 2011 // Michael Korn, managing principal at Integro Insurance Brokers, is a popular person these days, which is perhaps not too surprising considering he is an insurance broker in earthquake-prone San Francisco.“We’re...

A Third of Large U.S. Firms Show Business Interruption From Japan Disaster

Apr 29 2011 // More than a quarter of large U.S. based businesses are experiencing disruptions to their supply chains or contingent business interruptions as a result of the March earthquake in Japan, says a new report.A new Greenwich...

Asbestos: Japan Tsunami’s other Hidden Danger

Apr 28 2011 // Inside the chunks of slate and wallboard smashed and scattered by Japan’s tsunami hides a health risk that has been overshadowed by contamination from a leaking nuclear plant: the odorless and nearly invisible threat...

Marsh Agrees: Soft Pricing Persisted Despite Catastrophe Losses in Q1

Apr 27 2011 // Catastrophe losses approached record levels in the first quarter but despite this commercial property/casualty insurance rate increases were confined to loss-affected exposures.In regions and for classes of business not...

Five Japan Life Insurers Eye Unhedged Foreign Bonds; See Weaker Yen

Apr 27 2011 // Five Japanese life insurers say they may buy more unhedged foreign bonds, believing that the yen is likely to weaken and that the currency risks are low enough for them not to take on higher hedging costs, a stance that...

S&P: Japan’s Rating Outlook Now Negative on Quake Costs; Affirms Debt Ratings

Apr 27 2011 // Standard and Poor’s threatened to cut Japan’s sovereign credit rating again, warning the huge cost of last month’s devastating earthquake will hurt already weak public finances unless bickering...