Aflac Japan received top honors as the Life Insurance Company of the Year during the ninth annual Asia Insurance Industry Awards held in Singapore on September 26. The leading insurer moved up three spots from 2004 to claim the award this year.

Approximately 150 companies qualified for the honor. The list was narrowed down by a panel of over 20 industry experts for the final winner announcement. The award was sponsored by the Asia Insurance Review, a premiere and comprehensive professional insurance industry magazine in Asia.

Since 1974, Aflac has built one of the leading insurance companies in Japan by focusing on innovations within a niche category of products. Aflac is the second foreign company in history licensed to sell insurance products in Japan. Now, after 30 years of operation, Aflac insures one in four Japanese households. Aflac is the number one life insurance company in Japan in terms of individual policies in force.    

Aflac is the number one provider of guaranteed-renewable insurance in the United States and Japan. Aflac's insurance products provide protection to more than 40 million people worldwide and pay cash benefits to policyholders unless they choose otherwise. Aflac's products are primarily sold at worksites in the United States.  

    In January 2005, Aflac was included in Fortune magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the seventh consecutive year. Aflac has also been included in both Forbes magazine's Platinum 400 List of America's Best Big Companies and in Fortune magazine's listing of America's Most Admired Companies for five consecutive years.  

(Source : http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104 & STORY= / www/story/09-28-2005/0004134234&EDATE=)