Aflac Inc. (AFL) CEO Daniel Amos, just returned from a trip to
Japan, said Wednesday he sensed little feeling of "panic in air" in
Tokyo and that he expected it to be returning to normal within "a
month or so."
Amos didn't travel to Fukushima or other areas directly hit by
the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
A life and health insurer that gets as much as 75% of its
earnings from Japan, Amos said in a phone interview with Fox
Business Network that he expected a flood of claims from the quake
but that it should be "well within our lines" and the company's
reserves. Amos said the company has 20 million policies in force
and that those directly affected by the quake will be a small
percentage of that total.
After the quake, the company stated it expected to still attain
its earnings per share growth for the year.
On another note, Amos said the company was undertaking a
six-city search to replace the comedian Gilbert Gottfried as the
voice of the Aflac duck. He said the duck would stay but the voice
would be changed. Gottfried was fired after posting jokes on
Twitter about the earthquake.
Full story at www.foxbusiness.com
-Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2900