Sony 2007 Annual Report Download - page 46

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43
Sony’s financial services business is comprised of Sony Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (Sony
Life), Sony Assurance Inc. (Sony Assurance) and Sony Bank Inc. (Sony Bank), as well
as Sony Financial Holdings Inc. (SFH), the holding company for these operating
companies. The Financial Services segment also includes the operations of Sony
Finance International, Inc., which include credit cards and leasing operations.
Sony Financial Holdings
http://www.sonyfh.co.jp/english/
Sony Financial Holdings (SFH) is the financial holding company of the SFH Group, which
includes operating companies Sony Life, Sony Assurance and Sony Bank. This arrangement
strengthens ties among these companies and facilitates the joint provision of products and
services. For example, Sony Life’s Lifeplanner1 life insurance professionals sell Sony
Assurance’s automobile insurance products and introduce Sony Bank’s mortgage loans to
their customers. Similarly, Sony Bank sells Sony Life’s individual annuities to its customers
and offers group credit life insurance products underwritten by Sony Life and fire insurance
products underwritten by Sony Assurance to its mortgage holders. These ties continue to
support the expansion of the SFH Group’s business. In the fiscal year ended March 31,
2007, Sony Life’s Lifeplanner sales force generated approximately 10% of the new automobile
insurance policies at Sony Assurance.
Sony Life
http://www.sonylife.co.jp/ (Japanese only)
Through its highly trained Lifeplanner life insurance professionals and Partners (independent
agencies), Sony Life provides individualized security and reassurance to its customers with
detailed consultation and follow-up services, enabling it to maintain a high persistency rate2
and a favorable lapse and surrender rate2.
Despite the fact that the total values of insurance in force and new insurance sales in the
Japanese life insurance industry are shrinking, Sony Life continues to see solid growth in
insurance in force2 (individual life insurance and individual annuities). As of March 31, 2007,
the total value of Sony Life’s insurance in force was ¥30,244.4 billion, up 4.0% from a year
earlier. New insurance sales, which reflected brisk sales of nursing care insurance and other
new products, supported an increase in Embedded Value (EV)2, a key indicator used to
evaluate a life insurance company’s corporate value. As of March 31, 2007, Sony Life’s
solvency margin ratio2 was 1,852.0%, indicative of its highly sound financial position.
In addition to reinforcing its mainstay business, death protection products, Sony Life is
stepping up efforts to respond to the increasingly broad needs of its customers by
strengthening its offerings in the nursing care protection business and individual annuities
business. In September 2006, Sony Life entered an alliance with Watami Co., Ltd., to
collaborate in the nursing care business. In January 2007, Sony Life and AEGON N.V. of the
Financial Services
*As of March 31
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
30,244.4
27,823.4 29,084.5
2005
(Yen in billions)
2006 2007
Sony Life’s Insurance in Force
(Individual Life Insurance and Individual Annuities)