Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Max Broden: So when we look forward into the paid-up schedules, you are going to see a little bit of a drop in 2014 — sorry, 2024, and then a further drop in 2025. And that’s where I would say that I would expect us to run more on a normalized basis for paid-up. Keep in mind that the big sales that we had of the WAYS product, they really occurred in the 2012 through 2014 time period, and there was five-year pay and there were 10-year pay. So when you roll that forward, that’s when you see that you get a little bit of a drop-off in 2024 and then further in 2025. That being said, paid-up is something that we generally build into our products, both first sector and third sector. But when we — I wanted to mention 2024 and 2025 because that’s when we move into a more normal schedule, and you’re not necessarily going to see these more significant year-over-year deviations.

Suneet Kamath: Okay. Thanks.

Operator: Our next question will come from Alex Scott with Goldman Sachs. You may now go ahead.

Marly Reese: Good morning. It’s Marly on for Alex. I was hoping you could provide a little more color on the Japan Post sales and partnership. It looks like it’s been progressing, so I was hoping to hear a little more on this versus the longer-term sales guidance.

Koichiro Yoshizumi: [Foreign Language] This is Yoshizumi. I oversee the entire sales in Japan. [Foreign Language] The sales of our cancer insurance, new cancer insurance wings and also lump-sum serious disease benefit rider continues to be very strong. [Foreign Language] We will continue to aim at growth in cancer insurance sales by providing sales support to the sales offices and post offices of Japan Post Company and Japan Post Insurance nationwide, including sales process management and the sharing of good practices. [Foreign Language] We are also actively working on the training and also developing of the sales agents across all the branches nationwide by sharing good practices and best practices. [Foreign Language] And we are expecting to have growth in sales even more by having all these activities done in a solid manner. [Foreign Language] And that’s all for me.

Dan Amos: Yeah. I want to make one other comment. We’ve been waiting for Japan Post to come back for several years now. And we had assurances that they would do that and I’m happy to see it take place. They are our largest shareholder. And so what is good for us is good for them and vice versa. So I believe this is a strong alliance and will continue to be strong as we move forward.

Marly Reese: Thank you. And then just as a follow-up, if we could turn to capital a little bit, would you mind providing an update on what you view as near-term versus longer-term capital management priorities or capital deployment?

Max Broden: So obviously, the capital ratios in our subsidiaries, they are strong, and that’s obviously priority number one to make sure that we have adequate and strong capital in our operating subsidiaries. And then obviously, we want to move operating cash flow up to the holding company and then deploy it from there. You did see that in the quarter, we bought back $700 million of our own stock. I view that as quite a strong capital deployment. And we also increased the dividend by 19% starting in the first quarter of next year. So overall, the company is generating significant cash flow, and we are deploying significant cash flow as well.

Marly Reese: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question will come from John Barnidge with Piper Sandler. You may now go ahead.

John Barnidge: Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity. Fred, congrats on the retirement. Question is around Japan and the expense reduction efforts. I know there was a paperless effort and other expense efficiencies. Have you already completed any required software installations or do you have any planned upcoming? Thank you.