Sumitomo Life targets acquisitions in South-east Asia, US

SUMITOMO Life Insurance is considering buying companies in South-east Asia and the US as the Japanese insurer seeks to expand and diversify its income, its top executive said.

“In Japan, the population is shrinking and it’s quite difficult to assume we can capture the growth there,” its president Yukinori Takada said in an interview in Singapore. “We believe in diversifying and investing in growth engines.”

Sumitomo Life and its Japanese peers are expanding overseas to counter the demographic pressures at home. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance completed a US$2.3 billion acquisition of Legal & General America earlier this year; Nippon Life Insurance bought Resolution Life Group Holdings and consolidated its Australian insurance operations in 2025.

Takada said the company has set aside as much as one trillion yen (US$6.3 billion) for investment under its mid-term plan that runs through March 2029.

It will tap overseas units Singapore Life Holdings (Singlife) and US-based Symetra Financial to look for acquisition targets in South-east Asia and the US.

“These two regions and these two vehicles are very important to us,” Takada said, speaking through a translator. 

Within South-east Asia, Sumitomo Life already has minority interests in Indonesia and Vietnam, he noted, adding that it would like to expand further in Singapore as well as countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

“The Singapore market still has potential to grow,” Takada said, adding that Income Insurance is one of the targets the Japanese insurer is considering. The goal is for Singlife to be among the top three life insurers in Singapore, he said.

In the US, Sumitomo Life would prefer companies that can complement Symetra’s business rather than cannibalise it, he said.

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When asked about the firm’s appetite in India, where several Japanese companies are expanding, Takada said that Sumitomo Life is studying the market, though is mindful about the regulatory and cultural hurdles there.

Takada said he does not believe in over-aggressively growing abroad. He will look for targets that are sustainable and can provide synergies to its existing businesses.

Sumitomo Life completed the acquisition of Singlife in 2024 for S$4.6 billion (US$3.6 billion) after getting approval from regulators in the city-state and Japan. It bought Symetra in 2016 for $3.8 billion and delisted the company from the New York stock exchange after that.

Separately, Sumitomo Life sees the Bank of Japan raising interest rates two more times in the coming months, in December and April next year, Takada said.

Even as Japan’s long-term rates have risen to their highest levels in about 30 years, he said that the firm has no intention to increase its domestic bond holdings beyond what is necessary for asset-liability management. 

The insurer is investing in private credit as a diversification move to ensure portfolio stability, and does not see a bubble in artificial intelligence investments, he added. 

Founded in 1907 and based in Osaka, Sumitomo Life had assets totalling US$322.6 billion as at Mar 31, according to its latest annual report. BLOOMBERG