Japanese life insurers report large losses on domestic govt bond portfolios

Written by Adam Cadle

27/05/2025

Japanese insurers, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance and Nippon Life Insurance, have reported large unrealised losses on their domestic government bond portfolios.

According to Bloomberg, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance’s paper losses on Japanese bond holdings surged to approximately ¥1.386trn (US$9.7bn) in the fiscal year ended March 2025. This compares to ¥161.4bn in the previous year, marking a substantial year-over-year increase.

Nippon Life Insurance disclosed unrealised losses of about ¥3.6trn (US$25bn) over the same period. In addition, Nippon Life realised approximately ¥500bn in losses through bond sales during the fiscal year.

The losses are primarily associated with long-duration Japanese government bonds, which have experienced significant price declines as domestic yields climb to multi-year highs, according to Bloomberg’s report.

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