Japan’s Life Insurers Are Dumping Foreign Bonds at a Record Pace
- Life insurers sold 1.9 trillion yen overseas debt last month
- Rising hedging costs have eaten into potential returns
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Stung by crippling hedging costs and tempted by higher yields at home, Japan’s life insurers are bailing out of foreign bonds at a record pace.
The cohort offloaded a net 1.9 trillion yen ($14.1 billion) of overseas debt in November, an all-time high, according to preliminary portfolio flow data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance on Thursday. Separate balance-of-payments data for October showed Japanese investors overall were net sellers of US, French and German debt.