Japanese insurer Tokio Marine is planning to allocate more than $10bn (Y1.53trn) for acquisitions to strengthen its international operations, reported Bloomberg, citing Brad Irick, co-head of the unit. 

Currently, around 80% of the company’s overseas earnings come from the US, but the goal is to lower this to roughly 70% for North America over the medium term, Irick explained during an interview. 

The funding for this strategy will partly come from selling off cross-shareholdings with other companies in Japan, which are valued at $25bn, according to Irick.  

Irick added: “It is a generational opportunity to take that capital that is being freed up and put it into long-term, sustainable enterprise value-creating businesses for the next many years.” 

Masahiro Koike, who became CEO in June, has made growing the company’s operations outside Japan a key focus. 

Tokio Marine is eyeing growth in Latin America and South East Asia, aiming to increase their share of international profits to 10% and 15%, respectively, from the current 6% each.  

This would involve purchasing smaller personal insurance providers and introducing specialty insurance products, which are less common in these regions. 

In Australia, the company plans to strengthen its specialty insurance business through small-scale deals or possibly larger acquisitions. 

In Africa, Tokio Marine prefers to increase its 22.5% stake in Hollard Group rather than seeking new purchases, Irick noted. 

In the US, where the company holds a 2% share of the commercial lines market, the focus is on smaller acquisitions.  

However, Irick indicated that “a larger transaction in the future” could be considered, given the potential for growth. 

Last month, Tokio Marine partnered with OpenAI to incorporate generative AI into its processes.  

The collaboration aims to improve efficiency and customer service by using AI for tasks like handling contracts, inquiries and document processing.