Aflac 2009 Annual Report Download - page 15

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particularly our pillar products – cancer
and medical. In fact, for every 10 child
endowment plans purchased in 2009,
Aac agencies sold two additional Aac
products to the same customers.
Since rst launching our stand-alone
medical product, EVER, in 2002, we
have been the number one seller of
medical insurance policies in Japan. In
the last six years, we have segmented
the market by creating a suite of EVER
products with variations that appeal to
specic segments of Japan’s population.
In August 2009, we launched a new
generation of our popular EVER product,
with the most notable changes being an
enhanced surgical benet and gender-
specic premium rates. The initial
response to our revised EVER product
was very positive and helped lift our sales
results above our target for the year.
Distribution Opportunities:
A Feather in Aflac Japan’s Cap
From a distribution standpoint, 2009 was
a year of solid improvement, particularly in
the bank channel. We were rst permitted
to sell Aac’s third sector products to
banking customers in December 2007,
and our sales efforts proved to be quite
successful until the global nancial crisis
occurred late in 2008. However, as we
steadily expanded our number of selling
agreements with banks and they have
refocused their attention back to selling
insurance products, our sales quickly
recovered. In 2009, bank channel sales
increased 132.2%, compared with 2008
and represented 6% of total new sales.
By the end of 2009, we had agreements
to sell our products through 353 banks,
which continue to signicantly outnumber
any of our competitors in Japan. We
believe the long-standing and strong
relationships we’ve developed within the
banking sector, along with our strategic
preparations, have proven to be an
advantage as this channel opened up for
our products.
In addition to new distribution
opportunities in Japan, we are rmly
committed to selling through and
supporting our traditional sales channels.
These channels allow us to reach
consumers through afliated corporate
11