Mitsui Sumitomo to invest further in risky assets

Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co plans to increase investment in risky assets by JPY30 billion (USD268.36 million) in the second half of this financial year, a senior company executive has said. Foreign stocks and debt, and private equity fall under the category of risky investment.

The main arm of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings has raised the total of such investment to JPY90-100 billion for the year, up from an initially planned JPY60-70 billion, Tomonori Mano, manager of the investment planning department at Mitsui Sumitomo, told Reuters.

The insurer, which had JPY6.777 trillion in total assets as of March 2017, does not plan to aggressively increase investment in currency-hedged foreign government bonds due to rising hedging costs. Instead, it will invest in foreign corporate bonds and foreign exchange traded funds, Mano said.

Of the about JPY35 billion worth foreign bonds the insurer invested in the first half, more than two-thirds were government bonds without currency hedging and the rest were exchange-traded funds.