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In a world of falling bond yields and rising hedging costs, Japan's leading life insurer is increasingly turning to derivatives in a bid to bolster returns.
Nippon Life Insurance Co. — which has a large stake in Principal Financial Group Inc. — has expanded its use of currency swaps, dollar-yen options, equity and interest rate derivatives in particular since October to boost income and offset the impact of hedging costs, said Toshinori Kurisu, deputy general manager at the firm's finance and investment planning department.
"We are coming up with ideas on how to efficiently hedge risks and as a result enhance returns, not just take risk for the sake of returns," said Kurisu in an interview last week. "We aim to ride out the low-yield environment with a globally diversified allocation and by using derivatives to enhance our risk-return efficiency."
Japan's life insurers are increasingly getting creative as global bond yields slide with slowing economic growth. Currency hedging expenses, a pivotal factor for some of the world's biggest holders of debt, add to that predicament with the costs for dollar protection near the highest since 2008.
Among the Nippon Life strategies:
- Currency swaps to convert some foreign cash flows to yen, to avoid the risk hedging costs wipe out income earned from international holdings.
- Sale of dollar-yen call options, using the premiums earned to offset the cost of purchasing puts — the insurer expects the currency pair to trend lower.
- Purchase of equity and interest-rate derivatives, such as long-term interest rate swaps to fix yields and match longer liabilities.
- Cap or cut its overall currency-hedged allocations — currently hedges about 60% of investments
The layered approach reflects Nippon Life's exposure to overseas debt markets, which account for a fifth of its 65.5 trillion yen ($590 billion) in assets. Of those, almost half are in the U.S., with 40% in Europe, Kurisu said.
