COLUMBUS, Ga., March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac Incorporated
today announced that its operations in Japan are up and running and ready to assist
policyholders following the recent earthquake in the Tohoku area,
which includes the cities of Sendai and Minami Sanriku. Aflac
Japan's main offices, including the corporate offices in
Tokyo and operational centers in
both Tokyo and Osaka, are undamaged and fully functional.
Aflac Japan's employees are safe, and the company continues to
reach out to their independent sales force to assess their needs.
The Aflac leadership teams from both the U.S. and Japan remain in close contact.
While the hardest-hit areas were Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima
prefectures, less than 5% of Aflac Japan's new sales and in-force
premiums are derived from these prefectures. Only two of Aflac
Japan's 82 sales offices have been negatively impacted; these two
offices, located in a single building in Sendai, have minimal
damage, but will be closed temporarily due to power outages.
About this natural disaster, Aflac Japan President and Chief
Operating Officer Tohru Tonoike
commented: "First and foremost, our thoughts go out to all those
affected here in Japan. We are
very grateful none of our employees were injured. We are working
with our sales force to ensure that we provide them with assistance
and help them take care of our customers. We remain ready to
respond to the needs of our policyholders by paying claims swiftly,
and will prioritize our response to those in the affected areas. We
successfully executed our disaster preparedness plan and as a
result, our operations stand ready to serve our policyholders and
claimants."
Aflac Incorporated Chairman and CEO Daniel P. Amos added: "In addition to sending
our thoughts and prayers to each and every Japanese citizen, we
want all of our Aflac Japan employees, sales agents and
policyholders to know that your Aflac family here in the U.S. sends
our support in every way possible. On Friday, we made an
initial donation of 100 million yen
to the International Red Cross to help with the start of the relief
effort. Additionally, funds have been established by both our U.S.
and Japanese employees and sales forces for our friends in
Japan, including fellow employees
and sales associates that have been most impacted by the disaster.
Most importantly, we want our policyholders to know that we are
here to deliver on our promise – we will be there when they need us
most. Having operated in Japan for
almost four decades, we know Japanese citizens are incredibly
resilient and we want to help in any way possible as they work
through this difficult time.
"As we look to the remainder of 2011, we expect Aflac Japan
sales will only be minimally impacted by these events. Our earnings
guidance for the year remains unchanged: we will likely be at the
low end of the 8% to 12% range for operating earnings per diluted
share growth in 2011, excluding the impact of currency."
ABOUT AFLAC
When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits
fast. For more than 55 years, Aflac insurance policies have
given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not
financial stress. In the United
States, Aflac is the number one provider of
guaranteed-renewable insurance. In Japan, Aflac is the number one insurance
company in terms of individual insurance policies in force. Aflac
insurance products provide protection to more than 50 million
people worldwide. For four consecutive years, Aflac has been
recognized by Ethisphere magazine as one of the World's Most
Ethical Companies. In addition, Forbes magazine has named
Aflac as one of America's Best-Managed Companies in the Insurance
category. In 2011, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one
of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the thirteenth
consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired
Companies for the tenth time. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500
company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL.
To find out more about Aflac, visit aflac.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides
a "safe harbor" to encourage companies to provide prospective
information, so long as those informational statements are
identified as forward-looking and are accompanied by meaningful
cautionary statements identifying important factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those included in
the forward-looking statements. We desire to take advantage of
these provisions. This document contains cautionary statements
identifying important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected herein, and in any other
statements made by Company officials in communications with the
financial community and contained in documents filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Forward-looking statements are not based on historical
information and relate to future operations, strategies, financial
results or other developments. Furthermore, forward-looking
information is subject to numerous assumptions, risks and
uncertainties. In particular, statements containing words such as
"expect," "anticipate," "believe," "goal," "objective," "may,"
"should," "estimate," "intends," "projects," "will," "assumes,"
"potential," "target" or similar words as well as specific
projections of future results, generally qualify as
forward-looking. Aflac undertakes no obligation to update such
forward-looking statements. We caution readers that the following
factors, in addition to other factors mentioned from time to time,
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contemplated by the forward-looking statements: difficult
conditions in global capital markets and the economy; governmental
actions for the purpose of stabilizing the financial markets;
defaults and downgrades in certain securities in our investment
portfolio; impairment of financial institutions; credit and other
risks associated with Aflac's investment in perpetual securities;
differing judgments applied to investment valuations; subjective
determinations of amount of impairments taken on our investments;
limited availability of acceptable yen-denominated investments;
concentration of our investments in any particular sector;
concentration of business in Japan; ongoing changes in our industry;
exposure to significant financial and capital markets risk;
fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; significant
changes in investment yield rates; deviations in actual experience
from pricing and reserving assumptions; subsidiaries' ability to
pay dividends to Aflac Incorporated (the Parent Company); changes
in law or regulation by governmental authorities; ability to
attract and retain qualified sales associates and employees;
decreases in our financial strength or debt ratings; ability to
continue to develop and implement improvements in information
technology systems; changes in U.S. and/or Japanese accounting
standards; failure to comply with restrictions on patient privacy
and information security; level and outcome of litigation; ability
to effectively manage key executive succession; catastrophic
events; and failure of internal controls or corporate governance
policies and procedures.
Analyst and investor contact – Robin Y.
Wilkey, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX: 706.324.6330, or
rwilkey@aflac.com
Media contact – Laura Kane,
706.596.3493, FAX: 706.320.2288, or lkane@aflac.com
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SOURCE Aflac Incorporated