EX-99.3 4 aflex993maxteleconferences.htm EX-99.3 Document






aflac-incorporatedx4xpro.jpg






Second Quarter 2022
Earnings Call
Video Update
Max K. Brodén







August 1, 2022



For more information contact:
Investor and Rating Agency Relations
800.235.2667
aflacir@aflac.com
Aflac Worldwide Headquarters
1932 Wynnton Road
Columbus, GA 31999



Preliminary note: Forward-Looking Information and Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures

Forward-Looking Information

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” to encourage companies to provide prospective information, so long as those informational statements are identified as forward-looking and are accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements. The company desires to take advantage of these provisions. This transcript contains cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected herein, and in any other statements made by company officials in communications with the financial community and contained in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Forward-looking statements are not based on historical information and relate to future operations, strategies, financial results or other developments. Furthermore, forward-looking information is subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. In particular, statements containing words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “goal,” “objective,” “may,” “should,” “estimate,” “intends,” “projects,” “will,” “assumes,” “potential,” “target,” "outlook" or similar words as well as specific projections of future results, generally qualify as forward-looking. Aflac undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements.

The company cautions readers that the following factors, in addition to other factors mentioned from time to time, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements:

difficult conditions in global capital markets and the economy, including those caused by COVID-19
defaults and credit downgrades of investments
global fluctuations in interest rates and exposure to significant interest rate risk
concentration of business in Japan
limited availability of acceptable yen-denominated investments
foreign currency fluctuations in the yen/dollar exchange rate
differing judgments applied to investment valuations
significant valuation judgments in determination of expected credit losses recorded on the Company's investments
decreases in the Company's financial strength or debt ratings
decline in creditworthiness of other financial institutions
concentration of the Company's investments in any particular single-issuer or sector
the effects of COVID-19 and its variants (both known and emerging), and any resulting economic effects and government interventions, on the Company's business and financial results
the Company's ability to attract and retain qualified sales associates, brokers, employees, and distribution partners
deviations in actual experience from pricing and reserving assumptions
ability to continue to develop and implement improvements in information technology systems
interruption in telecommunication, information technology and other operational systems, or a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data residing on such systems
subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends to the Parent Company
inherent limitations to risk management policies and procedures
operational risks of third party vendors
tax rates applicable to the Company may change
failure to comply with restrictions on policyholder privacy and information security
extensive regulation and changes in law or regulation by governmental authorities
competitive environment and ability to anticipate and respond to market trends
catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, as a result of climate change, epidemics, pandemics (such as COVID-19), tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, war or other military action, terrorism or other acts of violence, and damage incidental to such events
ability to protect the Aflac brand and the Company's reputation
ability to effectively manage key executive succession
changes in accounting standards
level and outcome of litigation
allegations or determinations of worker misclassification in the United States




Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures and Reconciliations

This document includes references to the Company’s financial performance measures which are not calculated in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP) (non-U.S. GAAP). The financial measures exclude items that the Company believes may obscure the underlying fundamentals and trends in insurance operations because they tend to be driven by general economic conditions and events or related to infrequent activities not directly associated with insurance operations.

Definitions of the Company’s non-U.S. GAAP financial measures and applicable reconciliations to the most comparable U.S. GAAP measures are provided in the presentation slides that accompany this transcript.

Due to the size of Aflac Japan, where the functional currency is the Japanese yen, fluctuations in the yen/dollar exchange rate can have a significant effect on reported results. In periods when the yen weakens, translating yen into dollars results in fewer dollars being reported. When the yen strengthens, translating yen into dollars results in more dollars being reported. Consequently, yen weakening has the effect of suppressing current period results in relation to the comparable prior period, while yen strengthening has the effect of magnifying current period results in relation to the comparable prior period. A significant portion of the Company’s business is conducted in yen and never converted into dollars but translated into dollars for U.S. GAAP reporting purposes, which results in foreign currency impact to earnings, cash flows and book value on a U.S. GAAP basis. Management evaluates the Company's financial performance both including and excluding the impact of foreign currency translation to monitor, respectively, cumulative currency impacts and the currency-neutral operating performance over time. The average yen/dollar exchange rate is based on the published MUFG Bank, Ltd. telegraphic transfer middle rate (TTM).





Max K. Brodén
2Q22 CFO Video Update
August 1, 2022

Hello, and thank you for joining me as I provide a financial update on Aflac Incorporated’s results for the second quarter of 2022.

For the quarter, adjusted earnings per diluted share decreased 8.2% year over year to $1.46, with a $0.09 negative impact from FX in the quarter. The quarter a year ago benefited from low claims utilization and strong variable investment income. Adjusting for these factors, we view the financial performance in Q2 as solid and on track to meet our full year objectives.

Variable investment income ran $47 million above our long-term return expectations. Adjusted book value per share including foreign currency translation gains and losses grew 4.1%, and the adjusted ROE was a strong 14.1%, or 14.9% excluding the impact of foreign currency, both of which remain a significant spread to our cost of capital.

Starting with our Japan segment, net earned premium for the quarter declined 4.2%, and policies in-force declined 1.8%. Both of these numbers are key metrics for us when analyzing the underlying business.

Japan’s total benefit ratio came in at 67.4% for the quarter, up 50 basis points year over year, and the third sector benefit ratio was 57.5%, up 100 basis points year over year. We continue to experience favorable actual-to-expected incurred claims on our well-priced, large and mature in-force block. With COVID infection rates higher, we did see our medical claims increase as COVID is deemed an infectious disease and insurance companies are required by law to pay out hospitalization benefits even for self-quarantined policyholders diagnosed with COVID. In the quarter, we estimate that this added 190 basis points to the total benefit ratio in the quarter. Adjusting for greater-than-normal IBNR releases and higher-than-normal medical claims, we estimate our normalized benefit ratio for Q2 to be 69.8%

Persistency remained strong with a rate of 94.3%, but was down 40 basis points year over year.

Our expense ratio in Japan was 20.9%, up 10 basis points year over year. Constrained business activity due to pandemic conditions impacted our sales and marketing expenses in Q2, which we expect to be a temporary phenomenon. We anticipate increased spending on key initiatives to continue, especially in the second half of the year as we tend to see some seasonality in spending.

Adjusted net investment income increased 8.4% in yen terms, primarily driven by favorable returns on our growing private equity portfolio and favorable FX translation on our U.S. dollar-denominated investments, partially offset by lower reinvestment yield on our fixed rate yen portfolio.

The pretax margin for Japan in the quarter was 27.4%, up 90 basis points year over year; a very good result for the quarter.

Turning to U.S. results, net earned premium was down 1.0%, as lapses were higher than sales despite an uptick in our new business written. Persistency declined 220 basis points to 77.9%. This is a 12-month rolling metric, and in Q1 we did see a greater movement of the U.S. labor force with a fairly immediate impact on our in-force as individuals shift jobs in between enrollment cycles or move to an employer not offering Aflac. This increase was broad and across the whole book, with no specific concentrations by geography, industry or policyholder duration. In Q2, lapses stabilized to a more normal level, but the 12-month rolling metric continued to decline as previous years' high persistency quarters fell out of the measured window.

Our total benefit ratio came in lower than expected at 45.4%, but 190 basis points higher than Q2 2021. We estimate that the net IBNR adjustments in the quarter and COVID incurred claims had a net 350 basis points favorable impact, leading to an underlying benefit ratio of 48.9%




Our expense ratio in the U.S. was 39.6%, up 270 basis points year over year, primarily driven by higher IT spend and higher DAC amortization as we grow new sales.

Our continued build-out of growth initiatives – group life & disability, network dental and vision and direct to consumer – accounted for 280 basis points of our U.S. expense ratio. We would expect this impact to decrease over time as these businesses grow to scale and improve their profitability.

Adjusted net investment income in the U.S. was up 2.1%, mainly driven by favorable variable investment income in the quarter and floating rate assets.

Profitability in the U.S. segment was solid, with a pretax margin of 21.4% driven primarily by the low benefit ratio.

In our corporate segment, we recorded a pretax loss of $75 million as adjusted net investment income was $2 million greater than last year as higher rates are starting to earn in, but partially offset by the change in value of certain tax credit investments. These tax credit investments run through the net investment income line for U.S. GAAP purposes with an associated credit to the tax line. The net combined impact is a net neutral impact to our P&L bottom line. To date, these investments are performing well and in line with expectations.

Our capital position remains strong, and we ended the quarter with an SMR north of 900% in Japan and a combined RBC north of 600% Unencumbered Holding company liquidity stood at $4.0 billion, $1.6 billion above our minimum balance.

Leverage, which includes the sustainability bond, remains at a comfortable 20.6%, toward the lower end of our leverage corridor of 20% to 25%. In this quarter alone, the weaker yen lowered our leverage by 100 basis points as roughly $4.2 billion of debt is denominated in yen.

I would also note that we recently received ratings upgrades from both A.M. Best and R&I, recognizing our strong enterprise risk management as well as stability in operations and strength in profitability and cash flow generation.

We repurchased $650 million of our own stock and paid dividends of $256 million in Q2, offering good relative IRR on these capital deployments. We will continue to be flexible and tactical in how we manage the balance sheet and deploy capital in order to drive strong risk-adjusted ROE with a meaningful spread to our cost of capital.

Finally, I would like to address how we approach and manage FX exposure and hedging, given the recent strength of the USD. We fundamentally believe that the best approach is to strategically hedge our economic exposure to the yen to protect the long-term value of Aflac Japan as well as the dividends the holding company receives, reducing both volatility and the cost of capital.

We do this through holding unhedged U.S. dollar assets in the Japan general account, which stood at about $24.9 billion on an amortized cost basis, entering into FX forwards at the holding company with a notional balance of $5 billion and borrowing in yen, which we have about $4.2 billion of USD equivalent of yen debt outstanding. These are economic hedges on which market value changes do not run through adjusted GAAP EPS, but protect the shareholder from changes in the yen/dollar exchange rate.

Adjusted GAAP EPS is protected by the translation impact from U.S. dollar-denominated net investment income, but not by fair value adjustments of the economic hedge instruments mentioned.

Taking the FX impact in Q2, we would expect every 5 yen move to the dollar to have about a $0.02 to $0.03 impact to our annualized adjusted EPS going forward.

I appreciate your attention, and look forward to discussing our results in further detail on tomorrow's earnings call. Thank you.