Starting in July, Japan Post Group will double its number of locations selling Aflac Inc.’s cancer insurance packages to more than 20,000 throughout the Asian nation.
The Columbus, Ga.-based provider of supplemental insurance sees the “third sector,” which includes the cancer packages, growing 15 percent in the first three quarters of this year but warned that this might drop off in the last three months compared to last year.
Aflac gets more than half its premium income and holds the majority of its nearly $120 million in cash assets in Japan. The company’s 2014 annual report celebrates 40 years in the country and includes lengthy profiles of Japanese executives and employees.
Post offices make up the majority of sales outlets for Aflac in Japan, but the company’s products are also sold in 90 percent of Japanese banks, along with insurance agencies and drug stores.
Chairman and CEO Dan Amos, reflecting on four decades in Japan, said his greatest source of pride is the way the company’s products have helped people: Aflac helps cover lost income, medical bills and unexpected costs like wigs and hospital meals during cancer treatments.
“I recall our modest start in Japan as we worked to obtain our insurance license and bridge the cultural and language differences we faced. But in both (the U.S. and Japan), we started with products that help consumers, and we believed in the value of those products. This belief has not changed in the slightest,” he said in an interview published in the report.
Read the full report here.
Or, read Global Atlanta’s look at Aflac’s Ongoing Journey in Japan.
