Japan: Life insurance association outlines its plans for 2022 – Asia Insurance Review

The Life Insurance Association of Japan (LIAJ) will focus on three initiatives this year to meet the expectations of customers, says Mr Yukinori Takada, the association’s chairman in his New Year message.

The initiatives, that Mr Takada has previously mentioned in his policy statement last July, are:

1. the life insurance industry fulfilling its role in a new era

2.contributing to a healthy and prosperous life

3.building infrastructure for sound business development.

New era

He said, “The LIAJ will continue to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic situation this year, taking necessary measures as appropriate and supporting further initiatives by member companies. As part of these efforts, we are planning to summarise the industry’s response to the pandemic thus far and the resulting acceleration of digitalisation in a report scheduled for publication around this spring to help the whole industry improve its crisis response and customer convenience.”

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, LIAJ member companies have advanced various new initiatives, including prompt and secure benefit payments related to COVID-19, as well as notable improvement in digitalisation related to various procedures and operations.

In addition, the LIAJ prepared a handbook on grief care last year to provide the necessary information for raising the level of service throughout the life insurance industry, and to take into account fully the emotional toll on survivors, as well as inviting experts to give lectures on this subject.

February and March planned events

The LIAJ will also continue its efforts to support a healthy, prosperous life of Vietnamese in the 100-year life era.

Mr Takada said, “In this super-aged society, each of us needs to improve our financial literacy to plan for the future. We are currently producing an easy-to-understand animated film for insurance education to encourage as many people as possible to take an interest in insurance. The video will be released on YouTube and other platforms this February.”

Given that a fulfilling life does not simply depend on longevity, but also on healthy life expectancy, the LIAJ will continue to consider the issues of extending the healthy life expectancy and an aged society from a long-term perspective. Furthermore, it is planning to organise an online symposium this March on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to deepen the understanding of how to respond to longer healthy life expectancy and to address the urgent issue of climate change with the help and insights from experts, as well as to communicate the initiatives undertaken by the life insurance industry to a wider audience.

Infrastructure

The LIAJ will continue to build infrastructure to retain the trust of customers, ensure the sound development of the life insurance industry, and achieve the SDGs, the blueprint for a better world.

Mr Takada said, “We will do this by promoting initiatives to maximise the corporate value of the companies we invest in, and contribute to sustainable economic growth through ESG investment/financing and stewardship activities, with the aim of realising a sustainable society.”

In addition, the LIAJ will continue to press for the expansion of the tax relief scheme to support and promote efforts by the public to obtain the types of private insurance coverage that they need, while providing active feedback on national and international financial regulations.