Japan¡¯s Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance wants to seek more acquisitions overseas, where it¡¯s prepared to spend to buy attractive assets.

¡°There is no such thing as ¡®too expensive¡¯ when it comes to hundreds of billions of yen,¡± President Hideki Nagashima said in an interview, referring to the acquisition price. ¡°Depending on the other party, we may have to be a little more daring.¡±

He is particularly keen on the U.S., where its subsidiary StanCorp Financial Group said this year it¡¯s buying Allstate¡¯s benefits unit for about $2 billion. The firm¡¯s ambitions reflect bold moves also being made by many of its local rivals, all hunting for growth outside of the country given Japan¡¯s shrinking population. The country¡¯s insurers have announced about $44 billion of acquisitions and investment deals over the last five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Some of these jumbo deals include Sumitomo Life Insurance¡¯s completion of its acquisition of Singapore Life Holdings in March to make it a wholly-owned unit, as well as the $12 billion of deals pulled off by Nippon Life Insurance last month alone.

Meiji Yasuda, one of Japan¡¯s biggest life insurers, has set a target of achieving more than ?100 billion ($639 million) in basic profit from its overseas insurance business by fiscal 2026. Nagashima said securing a reliable management team is more important than the yen¡¯s depreciation, and the exchange rate is ¡°only a secondary consideration¡± when looking at deals. An expansion into specialized areas such as personal insurance and medical insurance is among options, he added.

Back home, Meiji Yasuda plans to raise the starting salary for new employees joining the company in April. The move sets it to be the highest level in the life insurance industry and signals the need to retain talent amid similar moves by its rivals.

Base salary, including fixed overtime pay, for fresh joiners on a job pathway that could see them transferred around the country will be ?332,000, Nagashima said. This will be the second consecutive year of increase, after implementing the first hike in starting salary in five years. The firm has also scrapped its seniority-based system to one that¡¯s based on job and performance.

¡°As we strive to survive by focusing on what artificial intelligence cannot do, investing in people is an important theme that we will continue to pursue,¡± Nagashima said. He added the insurer will consider companywide pay increases ¡°appropriately,¡± while taking into account the inflation rate.