Life, but not as we know it

As mutual companies, with no shareholders and no stock analysts following their every move, Japan's big life insurers have long been a largely ignored part of the Japanese financial system.

However since the failure of Nissan Life in April 1997, and the near failure of Toho Life earlier this year, counterparties in wholesale markets have suddenly had to focus on life companies' creditworthiness.

At the same time foreign insurers scent opportunities in the consumer crisis engendered by Nissan and Toho. Better still, many hope they may be able to avoid the hard years it took existing foreign entrants to get a toehold in Japan by repeating GE Capital's spectacular "rescue" of Toho, which made it a major player in the industry virtually overnight.

Adding to the focus on the sector is the arrival in Japan of the demutualization wave that...