Thank you for joining us today. First, please turn to page three. Last week, we announced our first half results and had the earnings call, so I will skip the details on the numbers. In a nutshell, I would say that we are making good progress over the numbers. Looking at how rapidly the environment is changing and the magnitude of the change, as well as the uncertainties, if we consider that, the reform that we have embarked on is still not concluded. For the first half results, we exceeded our initial guidance. I think that is partly thanks to the efforts that we have been making to date, and also partly driven by the external environment. We should not be just focused on the short-term results, but we will carry out what needs to be done. Our efforts will not bear fruit overnight.
In some cases, our efforts may bring results exceeding our initial expectation. I think that is the destiny of the insurance business. Moving on to page five, I would like to talk about the two new macro targets under the midterm management plan, the ROE target and also the EPS growth. Regarding the EPS growth, we are growing exceeding the initial expectation. For ROE, we are making steady improvement. We need further improvement to the next level. Moving on to page six. Here, I would like to talk about the initiatives under Sompo P&C. Regarding the initiatives with Sompo P&C, it is on page six, please. We are executing what needs to be done. We have achieved some quick wins. We are also carrying out initiatives which will bring about long-term benefits.
In terms of the numbers, we have reinsurance strategy leveraging on the scale and also for investment. As a quick win, we are already achieving some benefits. For Sompo P&C, the initiatives are done jointly with Sompo Japan and Sompo International. Also, there are other areas where Sompo Japan is taking the lead for initiatives like SJR and other initiatives that are led by Sompo International. It is a mixture of different initiatives. We are already achieving some quick wins. As I said earlier, updating the corporate culture and also walking away from focus on the top line are things that cannot be changed immediately. We have this unwavering determination to move forward without going back. For Sompo Japan, we are trying to build the underwriting culture. This is the key. We are making tremendous efforts to achieve this.
We are getting a lot of support and stimulus from Sompo International, including trying to improve the portfolio, controlling the line size, and also managing the limit. We are trying to walk away from the traditional industry practices, which would also require close communication with the customers. We will focus on our path and move forward by tenaciously carrying out these initiatives. In terms of the numbers, you can see improvement for combined ratio as well as adjusted profit. Our next page on well-being on page seven, we have communicated about the concepts over a number of times. We want to make the aging society a positive society. That is why we are addressing three concerns. From the phase of concept, we are shifting to a phase of implementation this year.
On October 1, in order to accelerate these efforts, we have established a new entity, Sompo Wellbeing, to promote these initiatives. Some things that cannot be addressed single-handedly have been covered by three entities connecting and being connected to support the individuals by extending the services so that we can make a positive impact to the aging society. Page eight, please. This is regarding the growth strategy and growth investment. We have organic growth and also inorganic growth. Regarding the inorganic growth for M&A, recently we made the announcement regarding the acquisition of Aspen. Sourcing the deal and working on the deal and doing the PMI is something that we will carry out solidly. At Sompo International, organic growth, i.e., the geographical expansion, is what we have been rolling out to establish new offices and also to hire new underwriters.
This is enabling us to make steady growth. For Sompo Wellbeing, in order to address the three concerns and also to support the individual's lifespan, with that concept, on top of that, we're looking at the new opportunities or new services. We need to develop or create those services in order to fill in those missing pieces. One methodology is to try to grow organically, but to try to gain those pieces through inorganic M&A opportunities. For this, we are now shifting to a phase of implementation.
Moving on to page nine. This is my final page. In order to realize our purpose, we will try to enhance our resilience and also be connected. We'd like to make sure that we continue this strategy. To become the truly global company born in Japan, we will not stop our efforts. In the medium term, what we are committed to is the JPY 500 billion in adjusted profit and market capital of JPY 6 trillion. Fiscal 2030, that is the deadline. How can we do this earlier than that? The JPY 500 billion target, can we exceed this level? Those are the things that we are discussing right now. In May, the new Sompo story is something that I'd like to share with you. From my side, about the group-wide strategy, that's all that I wanted to say.
I would hand the microphone to Jim. Thank you.
Thank you.
Welcome. I'd like you to turn to slide 11, where we talk about the pillars of success for Sompo P&C. As Okumura-san mentioned, Sompo is a Japanese company born and truly global. To do so, we need to operate more than just P&C and well-being. When we looked at the global P&C businesses, we were operating as two separate organizations, Japan and overseas. In April of this year, we brought the two organizations together in a form of communication and joint management structure. We focused on reinsurance, which began approximately two years ago, to present ourselves to the marketplace as one organization. This allowed us to utilize the size and scale to negotiate better terms and conditions, not only on a reinsurance basis, but of our overall global relationships with distribution partners.
Over the last several months, we've focused on building investment strategies, operations and IT, underwriting, human resources, and risk. Now we're going to talk about two of those in particular, the first one being investments. I'll hand over to Nick Burnette.
Thank you, Jim. On page 12 of the presentation, as Okumura-san said, with the segmentation of Sompo P&C, we are starting to see the benefits associated with being one approach to the market. The alignment under Sompo P&C brings together one risk appetite, optimization of capital, and investment strategy. This is expected to enhance operating income or adjusted profits by up to $50 million before taxes. We have created a new investment committee to drive the strategic asset allocation across Sompo P&C. This allows us to determine the balance sheets to get the best risk-adjusted returns based on capital, risk appetite of local balance sheets, but also allows us to invest into larger increments and drive more attractive fees. We have established governance, leveraged capital, shared our strategy with our investment managers, and have begun the consolidation of investment strategies.
While using our global balance sheets to attribute the reinvestments globally, it also allows us to leverage our global relationships and get the best access to managers across the globe. Finally, we have begun the integration of global systems, which should bear fruit when we integrate Aspen, which will give us even more scale. I'll turn it back over to Jim.
Thank you, Nick. On slide 13, I'd like to talk about some of the operational effectiveness that have been put in place and are being put in place within Sompo Japan through the close cooperation. Number one, we've identified clear ownership and accountability with one person owning the operations and IT responsibility across Sompo Japan. We've identified product rationalization. We've identified operational efficiencies through system integration. We focused on cost savings and have identified a target of JPY 30 billion to be achieved over the next three years. We utilize this, and we've already demonstrated it through vendor rationalization and vendor negotiations, looking at vendors who supply both our international business and our Japanese business and negotiating as one. We are slowly becoming a more data-driven organization, making decisions based on the best interest of the organization. I'll turn over to Ishikawa-san for the next two slides.
Thank you very much. From my side, I'd like to talk about the domestic P&C, and I'd like to talk about the progress. In one word, we are on track. Looking at each KPI, we have exceeded all in all KPIs. In achieving MTMP, we are making very solid progress. First of all, on page 14, you see the ROE by business. The 8.3% was our initial forecast. We have likely to achieve 12.5%. For the fiscal 2026, our target was 10% or higher. We are likely to achieve this or go beyond this. The second point is combined ratio. We are likely to achieve 95.6%. Our target for fiscal 2026 is 95% or less. We are likely to achieve that target as well. On the right-hand side, we are showing the reduction of the strategic shareholding.
We are doing well on this area. The target of the sales has been increased from JPY 200 billion to JPY 250 billion. In achieving the targets of the MTMP, we are almost there. We would like to continue with those initiatives so that we can show you the concrete results. Moving on to page 15, this is the qualitative explanation about the domestic P&C. There are three pillars. The first is to make sure that we make progress in the business improvement plan. The second is through SJR, we want to improve their profitability and enhance the resilience to work on the transformation of the revenue foundation. The third is through the cultural transformation. We want to solidify the business foundation. In the middle, we are trying to regain the trust. Currently, we are executing 183 initiatives.
75% out of them have already reached the effect-lasting status. We are making good progress in making improvements. In the middle, we have earnings structure reform and enhancing the revenue management by segment and bottom line focus sales transformation and also the claims service, the enhancement of the fraud detection. We are making very solid progress.
The third pillar regarding the foundation of the business, we are trying to change the corporate culture. We are increasing the investment into human capital. We are also trying to walk away from the traditional market practices. By enhancing our insurance and also the services delivered to the customers, we are trying to improve our basis so that we have been making good progress in trying to achieve a balanced and sustainable growth. From this year, we have shifted to the Sompo P&C structure.
We are building a more robust business framework and accelerating transformation by getting the support from the overseas expertise and talent.
Thank you. On slide 16, you see the targets for Sompo International. This is based on an IFRS 4 basis and on a calendar year basis. As you can see, our target over the next till 2026 was to generate operating income of $1.5 billion. The nine-month 2025 is slightly below prior due to the first quarter California wildfires. However, as we look towards the fourth quarter and end of the last quarter of 2025, we see benign cat activity. We expect to recoup that and become much closer to target for 2025. On the GWP target for growth initiatives, we indicated a $1 billion target of GWP from all of the growth initiatives. This is representative of our inorganic growth strategy or sorry, our organic growth strategy as opposed to the inorganic investments.
It was comprised of a number of countries and initiatives that I will talk about on the next slide. As you can see, the target of $1.5 billion, we have achieved approximately $760 million after nine months. We feel that we are well ahead of target in achieving that goal. The final goal of 13% ROE was achieved despite us holding additional excess capital in order to prepare for acquisitions, which we have announced with respect to Aspen. It also is an unleveraged number. The underwriting results are continuing to perform very well both on an action year underwriting basis and on investment income basis. As you move to the next slide, slide 17, as I mentioned, $760 million, you can see from three different areas in North America.
While North America is an established market, there are several smaller markets and pocket markets within North America. Investing in cities and offices such as Denver, Houston, and Miami in 2025, end of 2024 and 2025, have generated new business that we would not have otherwise seen. As you look into 2026, we are exploring potential new openings across North America. I would also include Canada, where we have achieved licensing of our business in Canada. It is a new market for us. I think it is top seven global markets in P&C. A clear miss for us over the last years, but a great investment opportunity for Sompo. As we look into the U.K. and Europe, the U.K., similar to the United States, is a mature market.
However, we've invested operations into Birmingham and Manchester and accessed those markets that we typically would not have seen in the London market. We also continue to invest in the expansion of our business throughout continental Europe, opening offices in Italy, in Germany, in France, and Spain, and expanding in Switzerland. In Asia, we continue to invest into the hub of Singapore in order to attract more business that we might not have seen in different geographies and capitalize on our brand and reputation that we have established over many years in many of the countries across Southeast Asia. To Nick.
Yeah. If we go to page 18, we just wanted to give you an update on the Aspen transaction. Although we do not have all the answers, we wanted to share the progress that we have made to date. The Aspen acquisition had four strategic pillars for Sompo. As we have shared previously, we were taking, and as Jim just stated, a build-versus-buy approach for strategic growth in our targeted growth markets. We stated publicly that any acquisition that would accelerate this growth would be interesting to Sompo. Aspen accelerates our strategy in the U.K. and in the U.S. specialty business. It turns us into a top 10 P&C reinsurer. It provides us access to Lloyd's specialty market and access to 80 markets globally. Finally, it provides us with the ability to access third-party capital through Aspen capital markets.
We also expect to gain benefits from scale, capital optimization, and synergies. If we go to the next slide, as we shared with you when we announced the deal in August, we believe the transaction will provide expense synergies as we find opportunities to integrate and harmonize systems, co-locate offices and staff where appropriate, and evaluate our legal entities for operational and jurisdictional overlap. Furthermore, the revenue base of Aspen is complementary, and Aspen capital markets gives us the option to access third-party capital. Finally, we expect to get capital efficiencies as a result of improved diversification and the desire for the potential uplift in the ratings of Aspen. If we go to the next slide, slide 20, there are many questions around the regulatory timeline for which we can't predict the outcome.
What I can tell you is that we, Sompo and Aspen, have achieved all of its filings in a timeline consistent with receiving regulatory approvals by the first half of 2026. Outlined on the left side of the transaction are the main jurisdictions that have to approve the transaction. I am also pleased to announce that the antitrust waiting period has expired and no issues have been raised. We have even seen one or two small regulatory approvals. We are hard at work preparing for day one, which includes having an opening balance sheet and IFRS 17 and other accounting standards, which will start the journey of realization of all the synergistic elements of the transaction. Jim, I'll turn it back over to you.
Thank you, Nick. To slide 21, when I sat in front of you four years ago, I committed that we would continue to grow the business overseas, that we would look for organic and inorganic opportunities. If we could not find the right inorganic opportunity, we would invest and build. I am pleased to say that over the last number of years, we have achieved that. We will continue to achieve that through investing in our business and growing in the markets that we currently operate in. I am very pleased with the Aspen pending acquisition. As Nick said, it brings many things to our organization. It brings diversification. It brings access to different forms of capital. It makes us a top 10 reinsurer in the marketplace. It gives us access to Lloyd's, which is not new to Sompo, but it is different than in prior years.
Many of the questions have been, are we still interested in the Lloyd's platform? The answer is absolutely yes. We're getting a top-tier team coming and operates in the Lloyd's market that has generated performance that has been envious of many other markets in the Lloyd's business. We are very excited about everything that is happening. Again, we anticipate a Q1 or Q2 first half closing. We are very much active with working with Sompo and Aspen in terms of the integration. I'm looking forward to any questions that you may have with respect to Aspen and Sompo. Thank you.
We would like to move on to the well-being. I would like to call upon Mr. Holding. Yes. From the first of April, we started as Sompo Wellbeing. We have Sompo Himawari, Sompo Care, and in addition to that, we have a corporate wellness, Sompo Healthcare support, and wellness communications, also the rise-up, the five companies in total. The recent business results are that in terms of digested profit, we are making good progress. As for the four-year forecast, year-on-year progress, and also vis-à-vis the targets, we will make sure that we achieve all of those targets. As for Sompo Wellbeing, as the future growth, there are three major pillars. First, each company will make sure to grow. That is the organic growth. In addition to that, on page 23, that is number two and number three.
Those are the areas that the well-being business will start as a new structure or new organization. The second is value-up growth. Going beyond each business, we will try to offer value to the customers so that we can grow. M&A strategy number three, we would enhance our proposals, and we would accelerate an M&A and also the alignment. As a result, in 2030, JPY 100 billion or higher adjusted profit is what we would like to aim for. Going on to page 24. Now, one of the growth strategies is the value-up growth. This shows one of the symbolic initiatives. As Okumura mentioned earlier, on the 1st of October, we established a new entity. Here, for the nursing care, nursing care will be the beginning so that we can try to solve the various concerns of the customers.
We made a start of this. It starts from the nursing care consultation. We introduced the facility for the nursing care, and then go to the inheritance or sale of the real estate, and the nursing care for their parents, and also the dementia, and so forth. We would like to link this to the consultation of the health of themselves. We'd like to take advantage of the expertise of Sompo as well as other business entities so that we can build these opportunities, the models, to provide those opportunities to the customers. We'd like to apply this to B2B2E on the right-hand side. We would work with companies. For the employees of those companies, we would provide the support of their health. One of the social issues that we face is that the business carers leaving their work for caregiving.
We will be focused on providing programs for those people. As for the mergers and acquisitions, we would like to provide the optimum solutions to the customers. The three concerns that we'd like to face and to alleviate those three concerns, the different factors and functions will be enhanced through the potential M&As and others. Page 25. This is for the domestic life insurance business. As for the adjusted profit, we are doing well. For the four-year, we are likely to achieve the target. However, for the new business NP, it is lower than our plan. We are still faced with the challenges. For the premium in force, we are seeing the growth as well as the less cancellation or churn of the insurance contract. Insurance and health support, which are the pillars of the life insurance, we provide insurer health.
This has been the eighth year. The number of the contract exceeded two million. The amount of the premium exceeded JPY 160 billion. We continue to focus on insurer health. When this business expands, the profitability of products would improve. In December, the variable product will be launched. To support the health of the enterprises, we will start plan to launch the new product early next year. Page 26 is the nursing care business. We are doing very well in the nursing care business. For this fiscal year, the utility cost and the food cost are increasing. This has been the headwind. We offset that. We are likely to end with a higher profit for the four-year.
The reason for that is the accumulation of the efforts at the front line and the better productivity of the nursing care operators. What we call Mirai no Kaigo or future nursing care, this initiative has been effective. More specifically, here, we are trying to visualize the operations and standardize the operation. Using the technology or data, we are reviewing the operation so that the time and personnel which we can save can work on the better quality. The revenue from the nursing care insurance, we would like to expand the revenue. As a result, we would like to improve the occupancy of the facilities and to improve the profitability. We would like to continue with those initiatives. It is not just Sompo Care internal initiatives, but we would like to also provide consulting services to other businesses. Number 27 is the final page.
This is the corporate wellness that we would like to focus more on. With many companies supporting the health management, we have the contact with those enterprises and customers. We would like to take advantage of that to improve our revenue base and also the profitability.
Thank you for the presentation. Now, we would like to open up for your questions. We have simultaneous interpretation. When you ask a question, we would appreciate if you could speak a little slower than normal. If you wish to ask a question, please use the raise hand button on the screen, unmute yourself. If you may, please turn on the camera. Before asking your question, please state your affiliation and your name. Mr. Muraki, from SMBC Nikko Securities, please unmute yourself. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. This is Muraki from SMBC Nikko Securities. I have two questions.
My first question is regarding your future M&A strategies. On the appendix presentation, page 6, you have JPY 900 billion of investable capital. Through the sales of the strategic shareholdings, this is going to increase. After Aspen, are you considering large-size M&A or bolt-on M&As? When would you like to execute those next M&A? The P&C companies in the US, the share prices are coming down. It is also said that the softening of the market may last for a long time. You have to decide if it's wise for you to make an early acquisition or wait until the later stage. My first question is regarding your M&A investment going forward. My second question is regarding Sompo P&C's simplified integrated operation that you presented. In the appendix presentation, on page 10, you talk about the integrated group investment. What was the progress to date?
Also, including Aspen, are you going to make a further integration, including Aspen? Already in the first half, the junk bond portfolio increased to 9.9%. Compared to the others, your exposure to the non-IG bond has increased. Are you willing to take more risk in the investment portfolio? That is my second question. For streamlining the operation, you say that the Aspen integration is going to complete in 2029. Why is it going to take four years? Yes, Murakisan, thank you very much for your question. I will make a quick response. Regarding M&A and the total capital available, the Group CFO, Mr. Hamada, will respond to that. Regarding the market outlook, Jim and Nick can complement. For the integrated operation of Sompo P&C, investment can be handled by Hamada-san and Nick.
Maybe the operation part probably should be answered by Nick. First, regarding our philosophy for M&A strategy, as Murakisan mentioned, there are many factors, including the ones you indicated, and also our unique factor of when we are going to be selling the strategic shareholdings. Also, for the hands-on M&A, we are going to prioritize the PMI of Aspen. There are also a variety of different M&A opportunities. Looking at our capital, and also in order to accelerate the recycling of our capital, we will sit tight to explore many opportunities. We mentioned in the previous IRD, and Aspen is not the end of the story. We are looking into opportunities to buy overseas insurance companies, as well as M&A opportunities for the well-being business. All the business owners are exploring those opportunities.
Regarding your second question, for the integrated operation of Sompo P&C, looking at the different entities, maybe the exposure to high yield has risen. We are looking at the risk one by one very carefully, and also looking at the group-wide portfolio in a holistic manner. For the detailed numbers, there are things that we can share and cannot share. It is not as if we are aggressively taking all the risks. I will stop here. Regarding the future M&A strategy and also the funding of the M&A, I will ask Hamada-san to respond to that.
Yes, this is Hamada. Thank you, Murakisan, for your question. Regarding page 6 on the appendix presentation, if I may clarify this, right now we have JPY 0.9 trillion of capital available for investment. This is after the Aspen acquisition.
The capital generation under the MTMP, we have about 18 months. How much capital can we generate? We are calculating using many factors. Roughly speaking, I think we will have incremental JPY 1 trillion of capital. Within the next 18 months or so, deducting the shareholder returns. Prior to Aspen, I think we said JPY 1.5 trillion. That capital availability would not change materially. This is somewhat impacted by the stock sales held by Sompo Holdings. We do not intend to use all of this in FY2026 all at once. We will have discipline to explore M&A opportunities. Regarding the M&A market outlook, can you comment, Jim, please?
I think we are seeing a tick up in some of the activities, as you've seen through some of our competitors in the marketplace. They're taking on different forms, both M&A and investments. I believe that over the last four years, we've demonstrated a very disciplined approach to looking at investments and an M&A activity. We will continue to do so. The market will go through cycles. It always has. We will have to manage through that. We will take a longer-term view about adding business that's accretive to Sompo Group. Nick, is there anything in addition to that?
No, I think, as you said, Jim, we have seen an uptick in many different forms and styles of the way the transactions are coming through. We will continue to monitor the marketplace, as you said. Yeah.
[Foreign language]
Nick, can you talk about the investment side of the business, the initiative by Sompo P&C, and also the exposure to the high-yield bonds?
As we've stated, we're taking one approach as we think about Sompo P&C and the investment strategy and how we look at the strategic asset allocation across all balance sheets. What we're trying to do is find the efficient frontier and make sure we have a balanced portfolio and warehousing, based on our risk appetite, these investments. We're repositioning, rebalancing. We're using leverage to benefit from our size and scale with investment managers to reduce our fees. We're optimizing our strategic asset allocation. There may be some shifts. I would say it was more of an underweighting to that asset class, the high-yield asset class, rather than taking on a bigger strategic footprint as it relates to high yields looking forward. We've started to integrate this mindset. We've started to rebalance and reevaluate the portfolios.
We're looking at each of the individual balance sheets as we do that to make sure that those investments are warehoused on the balance sheets where we get the best risk-adjusted return.
There was a question on Aspen.
Aspen.
Yeah.
Yeah. I think the last question that you had was about 2029. I think it relates to synergies. We will continue to drive the synergies as a result of the transaction as quickly as possible. The 2029 is when we have a fully integrated run rate expense savings in 2029. That does not mean we will not start that journey on day one. It just means that our expectations between the integration of systems, bringing the legal entity together, optimizing along, and harmonizing along the whole synergy approach, by 2029, we should have fully achieved those synergies.
[Foreign language]
Yes, thank you.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Mr. Muraki. Next, BofA Securities, Tsutino-san, please. Thank you very much. First question is about overseas. The other day that the earnings call this year, it would be with the Soft Power. You will be changing the portfolio significantly. Because of that, expected loss rate was increased. The CAT rate is lowered. At the same time, the expected loss rate is increased. This offset with each other. The investment is up. That's what you said. Now, this change of the portfolio, by changing the portfolio, about the know-how of doing it, I'm sure that that's something that's being done at the Sompo International. Where do you pay attention to? What are the areas of the focus? Increasing the expected loss rate. You are being conservative.
If it is something that is newly underwritten, next year or in two years, the assumption probably were too high, you might lower that. Is that something that could happen? That is my first question. Second question is about the domestic business. Underwriting in Japan, many things are doing well, you said. As for the auto, at the beginning of the year, in comparison to the loss rate, the CAT loss rate was increased slightly. Most recently, when you look at the year-on-year comparison, last fall, I think that components and other parts, unit price went up. The claim unit price is up year-on-year here. For the next fiscal year, the claim unit price and also the frequency, if they do not come down, 6% or 7% price increase might be necessary next year or even every year.
If that is the case, can you move very quickly or flexibly to accommodate that? Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Tsutino. My first question, or your first question, is about the international overseas business. In building portfolio, there are different perspectives. Market rate environment and also CAT volatility control, there are different factors. This time, the market as a whole, the CAT and property rate are coming down. Casualty rate for us was favorable. Because of that, we increased the percentage of weight. As a result of it, expected the loss rate of the casualty is high. To secure the stable profit, the loss rate is slightly up. Concerning that, Nick can probably give some more details. As for Japan, there are innovation of the systems and others. We are creating the situation about the infrastructure.
I am also focused on that. I am concerned about that. It is not just increasing the rate and to work on the cost. That is one of the basics. We would like to, of course, provide a value that is convincing to the customers and to make sure that we do the portfolio management and to increase our productivity and reduce costs. That is the effort that we should be making before raising the prices. As for the timing, there have been some systematic restrictions. We would like to be able to do that flexibly in the system development and also to shorten the long-term contract so that we can increase our profit. That is what we are doing at Sompo Japan.
As for the portfolio-related way of thinking and the higher expected loss rate, I'd like to ask Nick to give some additional comment.
Yamaguchi-san, I think as we see a few things happening, as Okumura-san said, the mix shift has created some increase in the attritional loss ratio. The other thing is we have hyperinflationary accounting in Turkey. Almost one point of the attritional increase is coming from a hyperinflationary aspect of consolidation through our balance sheet. The other aspect of that, though, and the converse of that is we get the investment income and it offsets. Part of the reason our investment income is going up is because of the hyperinflationary accounting. Through the first nine months, when we look at the two points of movement or 2.3 points of movement on our combined ratio, some of that is driven by mix into the casualty business, where we are continuing to see good rate increases that make us continue to shift towards that.
The second part of that is approximately one point is as a result of hyperinflationary effects through Turkey, which we get the offsets in investment income as we get the benefits through the investment income line. The third is that because of the California wildfires, as we look through the first nine months on an IFRS 4 basis, although we saw that there was benign CATs in Q2 and Q3 and Q1 because of the California wildfires. As we look to the underlying and we look to the attritional loss ratio of the underlying, we feel very good about the outcome. There will be this hyperinflationary effect that we will continue to see with hyperinflationary accounting, which is offset in investment income.
[Foreign language]
As for a domestic matter, I'd like to ask Ishikawa-san to comment. First of all, about the auto insurance and the impact of the inflation. In fiscal 2025, the initial forecast, the CPI and the corporate price index, different factors are being considered to come up with this. As for this fiscal year, at the beginning of the year, we thought that it's going to slow down a little bit. Compared to the previous year, it was around 5.7% or so increase. As Tsutino-san pointed out correctly, up to the interim period, it was 7%. There was an impact of the inflation. In the medium to longer term, this inflationary situation might continue. It might come down, but about from 4.5%-5% range. That is the range of the inflation trend, which is likely to continue.
Auto insurance, to sustainably increasing the rate and to need to face the higher unit price. As Okumura-san mentioned, if the inflation accelerates or the environment changes, which is beyond our expectations, of course, we have done the preparation from that system perspective. In the past, we looked at the revision of the rate once every year. From now, we can be more flexible and increase the frequency. We have already built such system. In a similar way, as for the long-term contract, currently the percentage of that is being lowered at the corporate-wide level. Long-term contract, when the % goes down, the rate and also the impact on the product price revision and also the policies in force, we can make sure that those can be more flexibly reflected.
To optimize the expenses and in the claims payment, we would like to make sure that we do so. Properly balanced premium and the cost reflection is something that we are currently working on.
[Foreign language]
Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Ms. Tsutino. Next, Watanabe-san from Daiwa Securities. Please unmute yourself and ask a question. Yes, this is Watanabe from Daiwa Securities. I have two questions. In the appendix presentation on page 9, I want to ask about dividend. You mentioned that when you announced the Aspen deal, the EPS growth rate is elevated to roughly 18%. Does this mean that the DPS growth outlook is going up to 18%? Here, are you considering just a single year of FY2026, or are you considering multiple years, including 2027 and beyond? My second question is on page 10 regarding the exposure to private credit. Bottom right of your group investment asset, 10% is foreign securities and others. How much exposure do you have to private credit? I think there is an exposure at Aspen. Can you also tell me the exposure at Aspen?
Regarding private credit, there are uncertainties. How do you think about the discipline for private credit, including direct lending? Yes, thank you for the question. For the shareholder return, I will ask Group CFO, Mr. Hamada, to respond. The second question regarding the group-wide investment, we are actually having the investment committee. I will have Nick respond to the second part of your question. Also, the Aspen deal, as well as how we are improving the profitability. Based on those, the EPS growth rate is not just one-off. We expect this to be sustained. Regarding investment, since last month, we have been hearing some noises in the market.
Based on that, at the board for Sompo P&C in Japan and overseas, and also at the investment committee, we have been discussing what kind of impact we should expect from those noises in the market. At the board level, we are confirming that. To the extent possible, Nick, can you share what we are doing for the exposure to private credit? First, Hamada-san, please. Yes. Looking at page 9 of the appendix presentation, it may look like FY2026 DPS growth is going to be 18%. We have not decided yet. I was foreseeing that that would be the expectation of the investors. Overall, the share price is going up. We would like to place some more focus on dividend to a certain extent. We are proactively considering the dividend hike.
This is not limited to a single year. We will look at the EPS growth rate of different years to decide on the dividend hikes for FY2027 and beyond. Nick?
As it relates to private credit, we're not over-indexed, but we continue to monitor the market, and we continue to adjust it and think about it. I won't go into Aspen's sort of exposure to private credit as we're not the owners yet. We don't feel overexposed to it. We're monitoring not only private credit by the type of investments, but also by the industries to make sure that we continue to remain in line with the expectations of the private credit market. Although there have been some defaults in the market, we haven't found ourselves overly exposed to any of those defaults. We feel good about the private credit that we have, the collateral nature of the private that we have also as it relates to private credit.
Could you give us actual private credit exposure in Sompo International and Aspen?
I don't want to speak on behalf of Aspen yet because we don't own Aspen, and I don't know where their latest position on private credit is, as they're actively managing. We have less than $1 billion of exposure to private credit in Sompo International Holdings.
Okay. Thank you so much.
[Foreign language]
Next, Sasaki-san from Nomura Securities. Please unmute. Sasaki of Nomura Securities. Thank you. I have two questions about Aspen Asset Management in Japan. The pension fund, the very popular investment strategy, ILS and Cat Bond have been included for a long time. In the Japanese market, Aspen's asset management, is it possible that this could expand at the accelerated speed? That is my first question. The second question is about the domestic P&C. In the supplementary material on page 23, I would like to have some additional information. Here it does not mention, but various initiatives are being taken. What I would like to know is about the agency's comparative sales recommendation. I would like to know what you are doing with the change of the law and the authority.
I think that in the full-fledged manner, the Japanese insurance companies or the agencies will be able to recommend the different products based on the comparison. Is it possible for the market share to drastically change in Japan? For example, in auto insurance, manufacturers and the life insurance companies were kind of linked with each other. Without that kind of affiliation, would that have a major—would it create some major change in the positioning of your business? Could you repeat the first question about the asset management of Aspen, ILS, and Cat Bond? I think that the Japanese pension fund, among the pension funds, was very popular. In coming to the Japanese market, the asset management business of Aspen, is it possible that this business will drastically expand? Do you have such a view? Okay. Thank you very much.
To your first question, I'm not sure who is the best person. I personally think that the drastic expansion probably not really. In any case, the underwriting risks and the matching of the capital market, even if there is one side, it's not going to lead to the major expansion. My check asks whether Jim and Nick might have some comment later on. As for your second question, I would ask Ishikawa-san probably to respond. This comparative sales promotion, and not just that, we are faced with various challenges, and we need to respond to them. The business practice that we have had until now needs to change. As a result, already we are seeing the kind of securitization in the market, and that's likely to happen.
One of the major impacts, including the dealers, whether there will be a major market impact or not, yes, I think that there will be a bigger impact. Let's take the second part of the question about the movement in relation to the comparative sales, Ishikawa-san. For the first question, I would ask Jim and Nick to respond. Ishikawa-san first. Yes, about enhancing this recommendation based on the comparison of the different insurance, whether this would have a major impact on our business. Now, the agencies and distributors, of course, they have been aiming for healthy business management. It's not just this comparative sales, but there could be—I think that one of the assumptions is that there will be some selection of the different insurance companies. Now we have rules developed, so this would lead to the changes of the business.
If you look at the total picture, the change of the market share, drastic change, that is not likely currently. Individual distributors and individual contracts, there could be some major changes. There will be pinch and opportunities. I think we should consider this as an opportunity for us. As it was mentioned, the variable non-life insurance companies, we deal with those companies. Of course, we have to be accountable for the quality and the system. We need a very high level of quality management. Only a part of the distributors, in relation to the cost, they will probably reduce the number of the PSN companies they deal with. As a part of it, as for the dealers, they would probably consider reducing the number of the companies to deal with.
At the same time, as I said, from our perspective, this is a pinch, but also consider this as an opportunity. We would like to make sure that we communicate about products so that we can increase our market share and also to expand our top line. Thank you. To the first question about the Aspen, ILS, and SAM, would there be a major change in the market? Nick, probably you can comment on this.
Yeah. Akumura-san, I agree with you. I mean, when we define major, but I mean, it's already a major presence in the market. It has about $2.2 billion of assets under management. It has $140 million, approximately, of fee-based income. It gives us the opportunity, with our larger balance sheet, to look at all the different opportunities we have underneath the Sompo umbrella. I think it provides us with the option. To drastically increase, if that means doubling, I don't see the doubling effect of it.
[Foreign language]
Understood. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Sasaki-san. Next, Sakamaki-san from Mizuho Securities. Please unmute yourself and ask your question. Yes, this is Sakamaki from Mizuho Securities. I have two questions. The first question is, the ROE target and your commitment under the midterm management plan. At the outset, Okumura-san said that you need the extra effort to further improve the ROE. At the earnings call on the result announcement day, Hamada-san said that it's becoming more difficult to achieve that target. For next fiscal year, the ROE target of 13%, how feasible is this? Can you attain this? Do you have excess capital today, and you have opportunities now? Do you still consider to achieve this next fiscal year or maybe in other years? What is the thought of the management team for the ROE target? The second point is about the overseas business.
In the mid-term management plan, you aim to increase the GWP by geographical expansion. What are different vis-à-vis your expectations, such as the softening of the insurance market by different lines of business? Do you see any areas where it may be difficult to achieve the gross premium target? In the softening market, how do you expect to grow the premium income? What is your risk appetite for growth? Sakamaki-san, thank you for the questions. First, regarding the ROE target, I and Hamada-san will respond to that. Regarding the second point, it is regarding organic growth in a softening market. What is the risk appetite, and how do we balance with the profit? I will ask Jim to take the second question. For ROE target, this is a KPI that we upheld. We have a strong commitment to achieve that.
That said, we are now trying to expand the numerator to achieve the ROE. On the other hand, it has become a little bit difficult because of the external environment. How do we think about the denominator, the E portion? Also, as we are discussing now, in the P&C market, there are a lot of M&A opportunities that are popping up in the market. How do we think about organic and the inorganic growth, and how do we allocate capital for that? Right now, we are accelerating an internal discussion amongst the management team. I may not be able to respond directly, but 13% is what we had committed to. On the other hand, the expansion of the corporate value over the medium to long term is something that we are also committed to.
We would like to strike a balance to achieve that 13%. On the second point, for organic growth, we are expanding in Europe. I am derailing a little bit, but until last week, I was visiting Brazil. In 2021, the retail business and the health insurance business were sold. We sold 50% worth of the premium income. Within four-plus years, we have been able to recoup that with the commercial business expansion. It does not get the attention much, but in different regions and the businesses, entities are striving to achieve organic growth. I will ask Hamada-san and Jim to add some comments. Yes, this is Hamada speaking. As Okumura-san said, I do not have much to add. I agree with them.
As in the previous result announcement, we communicated that the next fiscal year, we will expect a normalized level of net cut. Our calculation gives us 12% +. To raise that to 13%, we have a strong awareness to try to fill in that gap. It is not going to be easy. We may say 13% subject to XX. We have this mid-term management plan, and the management team is strongly committed to that. It does not mean that by the end of FY2026, Sompo Group would no longer exist. We will also consider the sustainability and the continuity of our business to strike a balance [Foreign language] investment.
The question of growing in a softening market, I think I would point out that when we talk about softening market, it does not mean it is not profitable business. As Okumura-san indicated earlier, property business, we are seeing rate reductions, but we still believe that pricing is still above cost of capital and sufficient to generate the required return on equity and investments that we see. Liability is still priced well and improving. Other markets, such as directors and officers liability, we are seeing dramatic reductions. We do see that size of that portfolio reducing. However, in many of the markets that we are operating and growing in, that we highlighted, we are new to the market. We are writing business as new. We definitely see still good business in those marketplaces.
The two things that we need to continue to focus on is underwriting and risk selection is even more important. The other lever that we control is expenses. Being as efficient as possible to ensure that we can manage and grow and be profitable throughout the underwriting cycle. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Sakamaki-san. Next. Morgan Stanley MUFG, Takemura-san. Please unmute. Thank you very much. I have two questions. First is about the next fiscal year, which is the final year of MTMP, the growth of the profit and driver of the profit growth. I would like to know about the image. About the domestic P&C, I think that the improvement of the profitability, I think, can be expected. Is that the case? As for the overseas business, depending on the line of business, there are some softening. Do you think that you can continue to realize the profit growth? Earlier, Sompo P&C, future profitability improvement, the portfolio management was mentioned. 5 to, sorry, 50-100 million, I think, or JPY 30 billion level of the effect can be expected. Maybe I heard it wrong.
As for the time frame, if you can mention that through the operational efficiency improvement. That is my first question. The second question is about the future plan and potential change of the plan. At the beginning of the session, the adjusted profit of JPY 500 billion and the market gap of JPY 6 trillion. You mentioned that there is an internal discussion going on that you might be able to achieve that earlier than expected. About the sale of the shares, is that also included in the potential change of the plan? The share prices are increasing, so it might be difficult for you to reduce the risk, but these are possible to consider. You will be focused on the timing of the future M&A before making the decision. Those are the questions. Thank you, Takemura-san, for your questions.
For the next fiscal year, the driver of the profit growth. Organically, I'd like to make sure that the SI and SJ or well-being continue to make the steady growth. We are taking initiatives for that. As for the investment, the investment asset is increasing. In the integrated management of the P&C, we would like to do so and reduce risks. As for Aspen, with the approval from the authority from fiscal 2026, this would be contributing in a full-fledged manner. That could be a growth driver as well. As I said at the beginning, first half of this year, the natural disasters were less than what we expected. Because of that, what we can do, for example, portfolio management and to stabilize the revenue, we can control the size and control the limit. We will do everything we can do.
There are other areas that we are unable to control. How should we capture that? That is something that we need to discuss from now on. As for the detailed numbers, 50 million and JPY 30 billion, those numbers probably can be commented by Nick or Ishikawa-san. In the medium term, plan or targets being changed. I mentioned that there is an internal discussion about that. Looking at the market environment and the sale of the strategic holding and also by increasing our profit, the capital that we can use for M&A will be generated. What about the timing of the sale of the strategic shareholding? We are committed to the number by the end of fiscal 2030. If there is an opportunity for merger and acquisitions, we will deal with it in a flexible manner.
We have already reached an agreement with the Sompo Japan members and the leaders. As for the end of fiscal 2030 and the sale of the strategic shareholding, we did receive the question on that. We have held the shares of our customers for a long time. Because of various reasons, we decided to sell some of them. As for the background and explanation, we would like to make sure that we spend sufficient time to do so so that we are accountable for the strategic shareholding. By 2030, for example, not just making the changes, but rather to sell all of them by the end of fiscal 2030. Also, looking at the market situation, we would like to handle this in a flexible manner. Okay.
For the next fiscal year plan and the growth driver about the SI and SJ, I'd like to have some additional explanation, starting with Jim.
In terms of growth over the next number of years and profitable growth, as I said earlier, will depend on underwriting discipline and expense management in terms of managing that business. We still see pockets of good growth and good business opportunities in terms of expanding into new geographies. I can assure you, if we don't feel that the business is profitable, then it's not within our appetite, and we won't write it. We do feel optimistic about that opportunity. We will measure ourselves. As Okumura-san indicated, the closure of Aspen in 2026 would certainly generate growth increase. However, we are going to hold ourselves accountable and measure those separately. We will be accountable for the original targets that we had put in place two years ago. Anything to add, Nick?
Yeah. We remain committed to those targets, and we hope and we're on track to close out. I mean, as it looks as the three targets that Jim talked about, the top-line growth in our strategic growth markets, we've actually accelerated that by a year. We expect to get to $1 billion a year in advance. That's a positive. That's going to help. Remembering that the fiscal year is a combination of new business, but older underwriting years. We believe the older underwriting years are coming through positively into the results. That's another positive that we have. We have some of the benefits and the tailwinds of investment income. We feel good about achieving and closing out, as Jim said, the 2026 year midterm plan.
We will continue to work on developing the next mid-year plan and come back with you with our new targets.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Takemura-san, for your question. For the next fiscal year, improvement of the profitability, we need to continue to expand. As for the initiatives in the supplementary material on page 18, this talks about the auto. Page 19 talks about the fire insurance. The major initiatives are shown there. Page 21, here, it talks about the expense ratio outlook. There are various initiatives that will be taken to reduce that. In that sense, to expand that profitability, that is our plan. SJR initiatives, talking about those. As mentioned today, there is an impact of the inflation and the repair unit price of the auto insurance is going up and others. Higher expense ratio is expected in the change of environment.
In SJR, we are focused on the pricing and the optimization of the reinsurance and reduction of the expenses and to improve the quality of the portfolio. Those initiatives will be continued. For this fiscal year about SJR, year on year, JPY 46 billion effect was generated. We want to expand that further. Steadily, we would like to continue to expand our revenue. We are determined to do so. Thank you.
Thank you. That's very clear. Thank you, Takemura-san. Next, Sato-san from JPMorgan Securities. Please unmute yourself and ask your question. Yes, this is Sato. My first question is regarding investment. For the existing capability, based on the current capability, I understood the magnitude of the improvement. Looking at the initiatives, you have the group best group synergy. Through sharing the know-hows and expanding the risk-taking or risk capacity, that is not reflected in these numbers. With the inorganic opportunities, would you consider doing acquisition to buy the expertise or the capacity for investment business? The second question is just confirming the numbers. Earlier, you said the ROE target for next fiscal year is around 12% +. You have adjusted the net asset of JPY 4 trillion. Is the ROE of 12% based on that number?
Going forward, the adjusted net asset, if you are going to retain everything, I think even 12% ROE could be quite challenging. May I confirm that number, please? Yes, thank you for those questions. Regarding the first question, in enhancing the investment capabilities, would we be targeting the investment managers for M&A? In the context of gaining new capabilities to expand your business, we leave all the options on the table. At this point, what you said is not the target over M&A. For the confirmation of the ROE target, Hamada-san, can you take that question? Yes, Sato-san, you have the right understanding. We have a net asset value of roughly JPY 4 trillion, but this is excluding OCI. Based on that, we are calculating the ROE. We expect next year to be 12% +.
Four trillion yen multiplied by 12% + alpha, that's what you're looking for? Is that right? Roughly speaking, yes. Okay. I see. Thank you very much. Thank you, Sato-san. Next, Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, Tajima-san, please unmute.
Thank you. Sombor P&C Integrated Management was mentioned. SI or Sompo International is the commercial. Aspen is also in the commercial area. As for Japan, Sompo Japan is commercial and consumer. It has a big consumer business. Even if you say integrated management, Aspen, SI, Sompo Japan commercial integration is, of course, possible, I think. At the same time, the consumer part of the P&C also exists. You said integrated management. How should I understand this? Consumer or commercial part is integrated. The P&C consumer part is not integrated. Is that the correct understanding?
About the Sompo Wellbeing, as you mentioned, this is newly established. About the corporate wellness enhancement was mentioned. You have to be speedy so that I think it's better to work on the inorganic growth. What do you think? Sompo Wellbeing, what kind of the size of the inorganic growth are you considering? Maybe acquiring the multiple smaller companies or if you can talk about the scale or the size of the inorganic growth of the Sompo Wellbeing. Thank you. About the Sompo P&C integrated management, commercial and consumer, we have both. You are correct. In SJ and A, there are commercial and consumer. In the area of the consumer, in the Sompo International, the Turkish underwriting know-how, and that leads to the claims payment and efficient process and so forth. That is something that we can learn from.
As we mentioned, the integrated management, the technical pricing, underwriting, reinsurance portfolio, in addition to those technical sides, about the organizational design and the investment and the transformation of the corporate culture. I'm not saying that everything that Sompo International does is correct and Sompo Japan is wrong, but we would like to learn from it. If it makes sense for Sompo Japan to transform the business model and to renew the business foundation, not just the revenue and the profit, we will be aggressively incorporating those ideas. As for the well-being, that's something that we are discussing right now. From different perspectives, inorganic opportunities are considered. How can we increase the number of the customers? How can we gain the missing pieces?
We are not really particular about the size or scale, but Oba-san maybe can give us some additional comment from the well-being perspective. Yes, thank you very much for your question. The corporate wellness that we will be focused upon, of course, we have to be speedy. As you correctly pointed out, we are working on that. To your question, the size of the M&A, I cannot really give you the specific number, but we would like to be disciplined, but there is no restriction or limitation. The way of thinking is that in order to be fast, we have to look at the functional access. To provide a solution to the customers, what are the missing services or missing vehicles? We can do the alliance or M&A to make sure that we have sufficient functional access.
In the area of the healthcare, in Japan, there are not so many major companies in healthcare. It is not going to be a big scale acquisition. At the same time, about the healthcare area, for example, the retirement funding to provide a solution, the potential M&A or vehicle, there could be different possibilities. For example, inheritance, real estate, there could be various opportunities in those areas. At the same time, aside from the functional side, the customer base, already the companies with a certain size of the customer base, working with them so that we can provide our solution is also possible. There are various possibilities. The channel or the companies with a certain level of the customer base, we can probably do the M&A or alliance, and there are various opportunities like that. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Mr. Majima. We have gone over the scheduled time. We would like to take the last question. Ms. Tsujino from BOV Securities, please unmute yourself and ask your question. Yes, I have one question. For the 13% ROE target for next fiscal year, to achieve that, would you, I guess you will consider capital adjustment. Earlier, you mentioned about enhancing the corporate value over the medium to long term and to balance things out. Considering all these factors, if you try to achieve that 13% ROE, you will have to do something substantial for capital adjustment. That could be an issue over the medium to longer term. Also, my understanding is that you will have to consider with a lot of flexibility.
Also, based on my calculation, if you intend to do something that will be quite substantial and gigantic, and I am excluding the impact of the process from the Palantir stock sales. Also, should I consider that something big will not be happening because I think you need to manage the expectation of the market? Yes, thank you. I think you explained everything yourself. Also, our commitment to the market, our short-term commitment, and the long-term commitment, how should we balance these out? How do we look at the internal environment and the external environment and the changes on the numerator and the denominator? We will take a comprehensive view to do something. I think this is something that the CFO needs to commit. I will ask Hamada-san to make some comments.
At the first half of our results announcement, we mentioned that the denominator was expanding more than initially expected. This was impacted by the sales of the stocks held by Sompo Holdings. We said we may exclude that in calculating the ROE. As we emphasize the importance of investment, it does not mean that we are not going to do any capital adjustment. I think the key is striking the balance. It is difficult to explain, but we will have a certain level of logic to make ourselves accountable to the shareholders and to present something at the end of next fiscal year. I see. For example, the synergy that you are expecting, would you try to front-load the benefit? Would you make such kind of adjustment in your calculation? We have not thought about that.
What is important is when we made this MTMP, we felt that the 13%-15% ROE target was appropriate. If we were to exclude something, we will be excluding factors which we did not expect at the time of making the MTMP. I see. Thank you very much. Ms. Tsujino, thank you for your question. With that, we would like to conclude today's IR meeting. If you have any further questions, please contact our IR office. Thank you very much for joining us today.