Sompo Holdings is aiming to increase investments in higher-yielding overseas credit to boost profits as traditional business flounders at Japan¡¯s third-biggest property and casualty insurer.
The Tokyo-based company moved several investment managers from its Japan insurance subsidiary to work in the U.S. from this month, according to Toshinobu Kondo, general manager of Sompo¡¯s investment management department. The Japan and U.S. units may try to lower costs by picking the same asset managers for deals including those with private credit and junk bonds, he said.
Sompo intends to ¡°invest broadly in credit assets that offer high profitability and different risk-return characteristics,¡± Kondo said in an interview. Asset management is becoming even more key as a source of profits for the insurer, he said. Kondo declined to say by how much the firm plans to push up investments.
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