Latest Japan Headlines
All the headlines from our Japan Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
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...
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...
Global Reinsurers at ‘Critical’ Point, Says Best’s Report
Apr 26 2011 // A new special report, compiled by A.M. Best, concludes that the string of major catastrophes, a persistent soft market and the near exhaustion of excess reserves have placed global reinsurers at a “critical”...
Japan to Launch Massive Search for Quake Victims Bodies
Apr 25 2011 // Japan will send nearly 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone Monday on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month’s earthquake and tsunami, the...
Beazley Remains Confident, Despite Q1 Catastrophes
Apr 25 2011 // The first quarter of 2011 reminded the insurance industry of just how unpredictable natural catastrophes can be. Beazley plc, which is headquartered in Dublin, but whose main activities, are in the Lloyd’s market,...
Munich Re Ups Dividend, Comments on Impact of 2011 Disasters
Apr 21 2011 // Munich Re’s annual general meeting (AGM) produced some good news for the shareholders of the world’s largest reinsurer. It announced a dividend increase to €6.25 [$9.138] per share for the financial year...
Catlin Estimates Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Losses at $200 Million
Apr 20 2011 // The Bermuda-based Catlin Group Limited announced that its initial estimate of the financial impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated areas of northeast Japan, are expected to be around $200 million,...
Summary of Re/Insurers’ Loss Estimates from Japan’s Earthquake, Tsunami
Apr 19 2011 // Some of the world’s leading insurers and reinsurers have issued initial estimates of how much the earthquake that hit Japan on March 11 will cost them and more are expected do so over the next few weeks. Risk...
