About Nippon Life Insurance

Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company (RNLI) is one of the leading life insurance companies in Japan. The firm offers life insurance products targeted at individuals and groups, catering to four distinct segments: protection, children, retirement, and investment plans.
Nippon Life Insurance was founded as Nippon Life Assurance Co., Inc. in July 1889, and in 1891. Nippon Life became the first Japanese life insurer to decide to offer profit dividends to policyholders, which embodied the spirit of mutual aid. And so, after its first major closing of books in 1898, Nippon Life paid the first policyholder dividends in Japan.
On 14 May 2001, it formed the AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Company and got IRDA approval to commence business. In 2006, the name changed to Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd. In 2010, it became the largest private insurer in a number of policies and finally, in 2011, Nippon Life Insurance signed a definitive agreement to acquire 26% of the company. In 2016, Nippon acquired a 49% stake in Reliance Life Insurance Company.
Reliance Nippon Life Insurance is a part of Reliance Capital of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group in India.
Quick Stats on Nippon Life Insurance
| Founder |
Yoshinobu Tsutsui |
| Year Founded |
1889 |
| Origin |
Japan |
| No. of Employees |
92,000+ |
| Company Type |
Private |
| Market Cap |
N/A |
| Annual Revenue |
US$74.048 Billion (2020) |
| Net Income/ Profit |
US$1.767 Billion (2020) |
Products & Services by Nippon Life Insurance
Nippon Life Insurance has been financial Industry for more than a century, and so it provides plans & services in:-
- Term Insurance Plans
- Savings & Investment Plans
- Retirement Plans
- Health Insurance Plans
- Child Insurance Plans and more
Competitors of Nippon Life Insurance
Nippon Life Insurance competes with many other life insurance companies. The top 5 competitors of Nippon are –
- ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
- Max Life Insurance
- Reliance Communications
- Safaricom
- NTT
Now, we have a clear picture of the company’s core business. Let’s talk about the SWOT Analysis of Nippon Life Insurance.
SWOT Analysis of Nippon Life Insurance
A SWOT analysis examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that a firm faces. SWOT Analysis is a tried-and-true tool that enables a company like Nippon Life Insurance to compare its business and performance to that of its competitors.
It will give us a strategic analysis of its internal and external environment, which is crucial for understanding the SWOT Analysis of Nippon Life Insurance.
To better understand the SWOT analysis of Nippon Life Insurance, refer to the infographics below:

Below is an explicit guide to the SWOT analysis of Nippon Life Insurance.
Strengths of Nippon Life Insurance
Nippon Life Insurance, being one of the leading companies in its industry, has several benefits that help it flourish in the marketplace. These strengths not only help it retain market share in existing areas but also help it break into new ones.
- Reputation & Brand Name: Nippon Life Insurance is the most well-established firm in its industry. It is the world’s largest insurance company which serves Japan, North America, Europe and Asian nations with its main customer base of more than 10 million in Japan and expatriates.
- Focus on Social Schemes: Nippon Life Insurance Life Insurance has long been a supporter of global health plans typically including medical, dental, behavioural and disability. With a variety of world-class services, it leads the industry in health protection and dental plans.
- Highly Skilled Workforce: Successful training and learning programmes have resulted in a highly competent workforce. They are not just highly skilled but also driven to achieve greater success.
- Affordable Insurance: Nippon Life Insurance insurance company is the market leader and serves the people in Europe with insurance that is low in rates but with superior benefits.
- Financial Position: Nippon Life Insurance has a very strong financial position in the market with consecutive profits over the years along with accumulated profit reserves which can be utilised for future expenditures or marketing activities.
- High Level of Customer Satisfaction: Nippon Life Insurance has gained the trust of more than a million clients and has a very strong customer relationship management team through which they keep their current customers very satisfied and also enjoy a good brand equity status among potential customers.
- Strong Supplier Community: It has built a culture among suppliers where the suppliers not only promote the company’s services but also invest in training the consulting team to explain to the client how he/she can extract the maximum benefits out of the insurance services.
Weaknesses of Nippon Life Insurance
Weaknesses are the areas Nippon Life Insurance can work upon. Some of Nippon Life Insurance’s weaknesses are:
- Research & Development: Nippon Life Insurance has a good share of expenditure on the research and development department but it is spending way less than a few of the players within the industry which have benefitted as a result of their innovative products.
- Diversity in the Workforce: The local workers contribute to the majority of the workforce at Nippon Life Insurance making it difficult for outsiders to adjust and hence resulting in the loss of talent.
- Low Market Share: Although the company has a significant presence in Japan and across international nations, the insurance company is not known to many people due to the company’s low share in the market.
- Customer Service: Given that it is the largest healthcare company it is only natural to have so many customers and in some areas, the company fails to provide customer satisfaction.
- Delayed Claims: Many states reported the authority of delayed claims payments to policyholders and increasing policy cancellations.
Opportunities for Nippon Life Insurance
Opportunities are uncontrollable external circumstances that a person may be able to take advantage of. These external factors could give the company an advantage in the marketplace. Opportunities for Nippon Life Insurance are:
- Possibilities in the Online World: Clients’ increasing acceptance of online services will allow Nippon Life Insurance Group to offer innovative services to customers in the Insurance (Life) market.
- Social Media: Over the years the number of active users on social media channels has increased and with this Nippon Life Insurance can make use of its social media handles to promote its products, interact with customers and even provide after-sale services.
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- Future of Insurance Company: Global life premium insurance growth is predicted to rebound to 3% with increased risk awareness owing to COVID-19 and global economic recovery set to accelerate the demand for life insurance products.
- Future Trends: The next 10 years will see the insurance industry moving from traditional to more customer-centric products. In the post-pandemic era, due to personalised services, the products are given based on information collected from external sources and devices.
- Shift From Protection To Prevention: There is a general trend toward risk prevention rather than risk mitigation, which indicates that insurance companies should concentrate on risk prevention rather than risk mitigation.
Threats to Nippon Life Insurance
Threats are those factors that have the potential to provide harm to the organisation in any form. The threats of Nippon Life Insurance are as follows:
- Gig Economy: Most organised companies across the world offer group insurance. Various online-based and reputed companies like Fiverr, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and others have entered the ‘freelancer’ population who work without any formal company allegiance. This has resulted in an enormous loss for the insurance companies.
- Competition: Since insurance was privatised, Nippon Life Insurance has lost its lustre and now confronts intense competition from private insurance businesses that have given the industry a new lease on life.
- Changes in Government: Because fiscal and monetary factors vary with each new government, tactics must be altered correspondingly. This results in a slew of issues.
This ends our elaborated SWOT analysis of Nippon Life Insurance. Let us conclude our learning below.