Japan’s leading life insurer, Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc., is actively exploring merger and acquisition opportunities in Southeast Asia as it seeks to grow internationally amid limited prospects at home.
Brett Clark, the Senior Managing Executive Officer responsible for Dai-ichi Life’s Asia-Pacific business (excluding Japan), said the company is especially interested in markets like the Philippines and Malaysia. He explained that these countries offer strong potential as more households are joining the middle class.
Clark also highlighted Singapore as a target due to its strong financial services sector and concentration of wealthy individuals. However, he acknowledged the intense competition in the city-state’s insurance market. He said, “The whole of Asia Pacific is a competitive market and so we’re not complacent.”
He further clarified that the company prefers focusing on a few strong markets rather than spreading thin across many. “We would prefer to avoid small and subscale positions in many markets and would rather have larger and scaled positions in fewer markets,” he added.
Due to Japan’s shrinking population and aging society, domestic growth has slowed. As a result, Dai-ichi Life—like many major Japanese insurers—is now turning to overseas markets. However, since the US and European insurance sectors are already saturated, the company sees Asia, especially emerging markets, as more promising.
Dai-ichi Life isn’t alone in targeting Southeast Asia. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. recently made a major move by turning Singapore Life Holdings Pte into a fully owned subsidiary, reinforcing the competitive landscape in the region.
Dai-ichi Life has set a bold goal: it plans to generate 50% of its group’s adjusted profit from international life insurance businesses by fiscal year ending March 2031. Of that, half is expected to come from the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan. The company hopes to grow profit from this region to ¥1.5 trillion, up from ¥576 billion.
Group adjusted profit includes net income after removing accounting gains and losses, and it's used to calculate shareholder returns.
Clark said that adding an operational unit in Singapore, Malaysia, or the Philippines would be ideal within the next few years. He mentioned that the company could pursue these goals through investments in local insurance firms or asset management companies.
Dai-ichi Life already operates in Australia, India, and Vietnam, among other Southeast Asian countries. Notably, Clark previously worked with Tower Australia Group Ltd., which Dai-ichi Life acquired in 2011.
