Ikuo Uno

Ikuo Uno joined Nippon Life in 1959 and has over 50 years of experience in the insurance industry. In 1997, he was appointed President of the company, and became Chairman in 2005. Most recently Mr. Uno assumed his current position as Executive Advisor. After the collapse of Japan’s economic bubble in the early 1990s, Mr. Uno acted on his strong conviction that Nippon Life must continue its tradition of providing long term financial protection to policyholders. He solidified Nippon Life’s capital base, organized a more efficient sales force, and spearheaded innovations that led the industry through difficult times. World renowned as a thought leader and forward thinker, Mr. Uno summed up many years of wisdom in a highly acclaimed keynote address at the International Insurance Seminar, Madrid, 2010. Nippon Life has long been the largest life insurance company in Japan by any measure. Founded in 1889, with the spirit of co-existence, co-prosperity and mutual aid, the company has faithfully served its policyholders and Japanese society for more than 120 years. Mr. Uno joined Nippon Life in 1959 and was sent to London as a trainee in 1976. Subsequently he returned to Japan and became Manager, Corporate Marketing Planning & Administration. Seeing that he was a person with exceptional potential, senior management continued to expose him to increasing levels of authority in various areas. He was assigned to the Personnel Department as Deputy General Manager in 1982 and rapidly rose through the ranks as General Manager in 1983 and Director and General Manager in 1986. In 1989, Mr. Uno moved to the International Investment Headquarters where he was Managing Director, Chief Executive. Then in 1991 he was appointed as Managing Director, Chief Executive of Metropolitan Area Marketing Headquarters. In 1992, Mr. Uno became Senior Managing Director and then was promoted to Executive Vice President in 1994. In 1997, based on his many accomplishments he was elected to President. Then, in 2005 he was elected as Chairman, the most honored position in the company. Uno, who joined Nippon Life Insurance Company in 1959, has more than 50 years’ experience in the life insurance industry. Career highlights include being appointed President of the company in 1997 and serving as Chairman of the Life Insurance Association of Japan in 2000 and 2004, thereby leading not only Nippon Life , the biggest company in the industry, but also the Japanese life insurance industry, which ranks second in the world in terms of market size. He also played an important role (as an expert member of the Financial System Council Finance Subcommittee for 2001 through 2002) on the government’s Financial System Council, which is a forum for discussions on the ideal state of the financial system and development of financial regulations. When he assumed the office of President, In July 2000, Mr. Uno assumed the office of Chairman of the Life Insurance Association for the first time. From a historical point of view, this move took place at a time of high expectation for critical leadership. Many felt the industry was at the edge of a precipice, and indeed 5 of the 47 member companies of the Life Insurance Association failed within the subsequent year. Since the Insurance Business Law required the first two companies to be dealt with in the same way as Nissan Mutual Life Insurance Company, as Chairman of the Association, Mr. Uno was directly responsible for the disposition of the failed companies. Subsequently, for the other three companies he initiated a new court-based approach under the Court-guided Rehabilitation Law which had just taken effect in May of that year. As a result, he significantly contributed to the recovery of public trust in the life insurance industry by overseeing the disposition of all failed insurance companies during his term of office. Significantly, by assuring continued protection under all policies of failed insurers he relieved policyholders from anxiety over their loss of protection. In 2000, Mr. Uno introduced a fund-raising program that stands as the industry’s first innovative securitization approach using a special purpose company (SPC). And, in 2002, he raised funds from a wider investor base by adopting the industry-first public offering approach. This instance of a mutual company attempting and implementing a fund-raising method comparable to those used by joint stock companies contributed to expansion of the managerial options available not only to Nippon Life Insurance Company but also to all mutual insurance companies in Japan. During Mr. Uno’s two tenures as Chairman of the Life Insurance Association (2000-2001 and 2004-2005), the Japanese financial market was simultaneously liberalized/globalized through the Japanese financial “big bang” policy, starting from the Financial System Reform Law in 1998 and subsequent deregulation and reforms. In such context, association Chairman Uno worked with supervisory authorities to establish important markets and develop rules, as described below, aimed at realizing both policyholder protection and sound development of the industry from a long-term perspective, together with market activation through competition and improved customer convenience. In 2001, in order to promote policyholder protection by ensuring, in a timely manner, financial soundness of third-sector life and non-life insurance companies, he spearheaded establishment of a “standard policy reserve system” for products in relevant areas. With regard to “bancassurance” (over-the-counter selling by banks), which was one of the features of the financial “big bang”, he initiated relaxation of the regulations on a number of occasions after 2001. He also advocated for appropriate measures (such as prohibition against cross-selling, limitation on solicitation of borrowers for insurance, etc.) to prevent abuses by banks that might result from their influential position as lenders and takers of deposits. Given the issues, including disclosure of underfunding amounts in corporate pension accounting (identification of the problem), he initiated research on U.S. defined contribution plans/business models at an early stage, with a view to introducing Japanese 401k plans in 2001. Through the company’s U.S. subsidiary, he brought into Japan know-how obtained from a partner life insurance company in the U.S. and took the initiative to create a new market. In addition, for operation/penetration of the Japanese 401k plans, he worked with Nippon Record Keeping Network Co., Ltd. to jointly develop a record-keeping system and succeeded in establishing a common social infrastructure to provide inexpensive and highly convenient services. In 2004, he introduced rules to set aside policy reserves commensurate with the minimum guarantee risk of relevant variable annuity products whose sales have increased to the extent of making them a major product for over-the-counter selling by banks. Born in Oita, Japan in 1935, Mr. Uno earned his Bachelor of Law degree at the prestigious University of Tokyo. Truly a renaissance man, he is known for his inquisitive and charming personality. For example, while a trainee in London his great desire to see Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) led him to travel there aboard a Finnish cargo ship. Thus, he was one of the few Japanese to enter the city during the cold war. Married with two sons, Mr. Uno enjoys music, reading, and photography.