MS&AD_en

9/22 　Domestic Non-Life Insurance Business: Progress of Efforts to Improve the Combined Ratio and Future Outlook

Now, I will review each of the main businesses of the Group. Please turn to page 8. First, I will talk about the improvement in the combined ratio of the domestic non-life insurance business, and our initiatives. 　The graph and table on the left show our combined ratio projections on a "written-to-paid" basis up to FY2015, which was shown in the previous meeting, and our performance up to the first half of FY2012. The effect of claims payments associated with the Thai floods in FY2011 and the Great East Japan Earthquake continues in FY2012. The bottom row of the table on the lower left provides figures excluding the effect of the flooding and the earthquake. Both the loss ratio and combined ratio rose slightly from a year ago. However, if the effect of domestic natural catastrophes in the first half of FY2012 had been less, at the same level as in the year-ago period, our loss ratio would have been a little lower than the level a year ago. Meanwhile, the expense ratio declined 1.2 percentage points, reflecting our efforts to cut costs. The combined ratio would have been below 100%. We will continue working to improve the combined ratio in the second half and after to achieve our goal. We will do our best to accelerate improvements, with company-wide committees leading initiatives in all aspects - products, claims handling, acquisition costs, and other expenses - as shown in the table on the right-hand side.