美國家庭壽險 (AFL) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day and to the Aflac Inc. third quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions). Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to you, David Young, Vice President of Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，Aflac Inc. 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）。請注意此事件正在被記錄。現在我想把會議交給你，資本市場副總裁 David Young。請繼續。

Good morning, and welcome. Thank you for joining us for Aflac Incorporated's third quarter earnings call. I hope you will also join us for our Financial Analyst Briefing on December 3 at the New York Stock Exchange. Registration reminders for this event will go out over the next few weeks.

早上好，歡迎光臨。感謝您參加 Aflac Incorporated 第三季財報電話會議。我希望您也能參加 12 月 3 日在紐約證券交易所舉行的金融分析師簡報會。此活動的註冊提醒將在接下來的幾週內發出。

This morning, Dan Amos, Chairman and CEO of Aflac Incorporated, will provide an overview of our results and operations in Japan and the United States. Then, Max Broden, Executive Vice President and CFO of Aflac Incorporated, will provide an update on our financial results and current capital and liquidity. These topics are also addressed in the materials we posted with our earnings release and financial supplement on investors.aflac.com.

今天上午，Aflac Incorporated 董事長兼執行長 Dan Amos 將概述我們在日本和美國的業績和營運情況。然後，Aflac Incorporated 執行副總裁兼財務長 Max Broden 將提供有關我們財務業績以及當前資本和流動性的最新資訊。我們在 Investors.aflac.com 上發布的收益報告和財務補充資料中也討論了這些主題。

In addition, Max provided his quarterly video update, which also includes information about the outlook for 2024. We also posted under financials on the same site updated slides of investment details related to our commercial real estate and middle market loans.

此外，Max 還提供了他的季度視訊更新，其中還包括有關 2024 年展望的資訊。我們也在同一網站的財務下方發布了與我們的商業房地產和中間市場貸款相關的投資細節的更新幻燈片。

For Q&A today, we are joined by Virgil Miller, President of Aflac US.; Charles Lake, Chairman and Representative Director, President of Aflac International; Masatoshi Koide, President and Representative Director, Aflac Life Insurance Japan; and Brad Dyslin, Global Chief Investment Officer, President of Aflac Global Investments.

今天，Aflac 美國總裁 Virgil Miller 也加入了我們的問答環節。Charles Lake，Aflac International 董事長兼代表董事、總裁； Masatoshi Koide，日本 Aflac 人壽保險公司總裁兼代表董事；以及 Aflac Global Investments 全球首席投資長兼總裁 Brad Dyslin。

Before we begin, some statements in this teleconference are forward-looking within the meaning of federal securities laws. Although we believe these statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that they will prove to be accurate because they are prospective in major. Actual results could differ materially from those we discuss today. We encourage you to look at our annual report on Form 10-K for some of the various risk factors that could materially impact our results. As I mentioned earlier, the earnings release is available on investors.aflac.com and includes reconciliations of certain non-US. GAAP measures.

在我們開始之前，本次電話會議中的一些陳述是聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。儘管我們相信這些陳述是合理的，但我們不能保證它們將被證明是準確的，因為它們在主要方面是前瞻性的。實際結果可能與我們今天討論的結果大不相同。我們鼓勵您查看我們的 10-K 表年度報告，以了解可能對我們的業績產生重大影響的一些風險因素。正如我之前提到的，收益發布可在 Investors.aflac.com 上獲取，其中包括某些非美國的調節表。公認會計準則措施。

I'll now hand the call over to Dan. Dan?

我現在將電話轉給丹。擔？

Thank you, David, and good morning. We're glad you joined us. As you saw, Aflac Incorporated reported a loss of $0.17 per diluted share on a US GAAP basis for the quarter primarily due to increased foreign exchange-related losses from the yen and the strengthening of 12.9% during the quarter. However, adjusted earnings per diluted share for the quarter increased 17.4% to $2.16. Year-to-date, earnings per diluted share are $6.23 and adjusted earnings per share on a diluted basis rose 13.5% to $5.64. .

謝謝你，大衛，早安。我們很高興您加入我們。正如您所看到的，Aflac Incorporated 報告稱，按美國公認會計準則計算，本季度攤薄每股虧損 0.17 美元，這主要是由於日元匯率相關損失增加以及本季度升值 12.9%。然而，本季調整後每股攤薄收益成長 17.4%，達到 2.16 美元。年初至今，攤薄每股收益為 6.23 美元，調整後每股攤薄收益成長 13.5%，達到 5.64 美元。。

Beginning with Japan, we drove a 12.3% year-over-year increase in sales in the third quarter, maintaining the initial momentum from the June launch of [Sumitas]. As you'll recall, (inaudible) combines asset formation with a nursing care option. It is part of our strategy to attract new and younger customers while also introducing them to our third sector policies. (inaudible) also played an important role in the sales growth at the agencies. I'm also very pleased with the continued improvement in cancer insurance sales through Japan Post channel, especially considering that wings has been in the market for over 2 years.

從日本開始，我們第三季的銷售額年增了 12.3%，維持了 6 月推出的最初動能。[住田]。您可能還記得，（聽不清楚）將資產形成與護理選項結合。這是我們吸引新客戶和年輕客戶同時向他們介紹我們的第三部門政策的策略的一部分。 （聽不清楚）在代理商的銷售成長中也發揮了重要作用。我也對透過日本郵政通路癌症保險銷售的持續改善感到非常高興，特別是考慮到 Wings 已經進入市場兩年多了。

On November 15, we'll be celebrating 50 years in Japan. Our marketing efforts will focus on creating additional touch points with customers around their needs and our products. Overall, Koide-san and his team have done a great job of driving sales in Japan and even more so of delivering record profit margins for the quarter.

11 月 15 日，我們將慶祝日本成立 50 週年。我們的行銷工作將專注於圍繞客戶的需求和我們的產品與客戶建立更多的接觸點。總體而言，小出先生和他的團隊在推動日本銷售方面做得非常出色，在本季度創造了創紀錄的利潤率。

Turning to the US. We achieved 5.5% sales growth for the quarter. These sales results reflects strong growth in group life, absent management and disability, which is encouraging as we continue to scale up that platform. In addition, it's good to see a continued increase in cancer insurance sales, given our efforts to enhance the value proposition to our cancer policyholders. As we enter the fourth quarter, and what tends to be our heaviest enrollment period, we will continue to focus on profitable growth, disciplined expense management and optimizing our dental and vision platform.

轉向美國。本季我們的銷售額成長了 5.5%。這些銷售業績反映了團體生活、缺席管理和殘疾的強勁增長，隨著我們繼續擴大該平台，這令人鼓舞。此外，鑑於我們努力提高癌症保單持有人的價值主張，很高興看到癌症保險銷售持續成長。隨著我們進入第四季度，這往往是我們入學人數最多的時期，我們將繼續專注於獲利成長、嚴格的費用管理以及優化我們的牙科和眼科平台。

Overall, Virgil and his team are doing a good job balancing profitable growth, enhancing the value proposition of our policyholders and curbing the expense ratios. Their efforts contributed to the strong 20.8% pretax profit margin for the quarter. Max has done a great job leading the team to proactively defend our cash flows and deployable capital against a weakening in as well as establish our reinsurance platform in Bermuda. Over the course of this year, Virgil and Max as well as Audrey Tillman, have taken on additional responsibilities.

總體而言，維吉爾和他的團隊在平衡獲利成長、增強保單持有人的價值主張和控制費用比率方面做得很好。他們的努力為本季帶來了 20.8% 的強勁稅前利潤率。馬克斯在帶領團隊積極保護我們的現金流和可部署資本免受削弱以及在百慕達建立再保險平台方面做得非常出色。今年，維吉爾、馬克斯以及奧黛麗·蒂爾曼承擔了更多責任。

The Board and I are thrilled to recognize the tremendous contributions these executive leaders have made with their promotion announcement (inaudible). You probably heard me say many times that in conjunction with the Board, one of my key responsibilities is succession planning for key roles, and I look forward to continuing to work with them and prepare them for the future.

董事會和我很高興能認識到這些執行領導者在晉升公告中所做的巨大貢獻（聽不清楚）。您可能多次聽到我說過，與董事會合作，我的主要職責之一是為關鍵職位制定繼任計劃，我期待繼續與他們合作，為他們的未來做好準備。

Turning to investments. We have been very pleased with our investment portfolio's performance as it continues to produce strong net investment income with minimal losses and impairments. As an insurance company, our primary responsibility is to fulfill the promises we make to our policyholders while being responsive to the needs of our shareholders. Our solid portfolio supports our promise to our policyholders as does our commitment to maintaining strong capital ratios.

轉向投資。我們對我們的投資組合的表現非常滿意，因為它繼續產生強勁的淨投資收入，同時損失和減值最小。作為一家保險公司，我們的主要責任是履行對保單持有人的承諾，同時滿足股東的需求。我們堅實的投資組合支持我們對保單持有人的承諾，以及我們維持強勁資本比率的承諾。

We balance this financial strength with tactical capital deployment. We intend to continue prudently managing our liquidity and capital to preserve the strength of our capital and cash flows. This supports both our dividend track record and tactical share repurchase. We treasure our track record of what is now 42 consecutive years of dividend growth with the Board of Directors' declaration of the fourth quarter dividend of $0.50.

我們平衡財務實力與戰術資本部署。我們打算繼續審慎管理我們的流動性和資本，以維持我們的資本和現金流實力。這支持了我們的股利記錄和戰術性股票回購。我們珍惜目前連續 42 年股息成長的記錄，董事會宣布第四季股息為 0.50 美元。

We repurchased $500 million in shares during the quarter and intend to continue our balanced, tactical approach of investing in growth and driving long-term operating efficiencies. Our management team, employees and sales distribution continue to be dedicated stewards of our business. being there for the policyholders when they need us most, just as we promised. This exemplifies our goal of providing customers with the best value in the supplemental insurance products in the United States and Japan. We believe in the underlying strengths of our business and our potential for continued growth in Japan and the United States, two of the largest life insurance markets in the world. Aflac is well positioned as we work toward achieving long-term growth while also ensuring we deliver on our promise to our policyholders.

我們在本季回購了 5 億美元的股票，並打算繼續採取平衡的戰術方法來投資成長和提高長期營運效率。我們的管理團隊、員工和銷售分銷人員將繼續成為我們業務的熱心管理者。正如我們所承諾的那樣，在保單持有人最需要我們的時候為他們提供幫助。這體現了我們為美國和日本客戶提供最有價值的補充保險產品的目標。我們相信我們業務的潛在優勢以及我們在日本和美國這兩個全球最大的人壽保險市場持續成長的潛力。Aflac 處於有利地位，我們致力於實現長期成長，同時確保我們兌現對保單持有人的承諾。

I'll now turn the program over to Max to cover more details of the financial results. Max?

我現在將把該程序交給 Max，以涵蓋財務結果的更多細節。最大限度？

Thank you, Dan. Thank you for joining me as I'll provide a financial update on Aflac Incorporated's results for the third quarter of 2024. For the quarter, adjusted earnings per diluted share increased 17.4% year-over-year. to $2.16, with a $0.03 negative impact from FX in the quarter. In the quarter, remeasurement gains on reserves totaled $408 million, reducing benefits while an offsetting unlock of the deferred profit liability in Japan, reduced earned premium by $75 million. Variable investment income ran $27 million below our long-term return expectations. .

謝謝你，丹。感謝您接受我的採訪，我將提供 Aflac Incorporated 2024 年第三季業績的最新財務資訊。本季度，調整後每股攤薄收益年增 17.4%。至 2.16 美元，本季外匯帶來的負面影響為 0.03 美元。本季度，儲備金重新計量收益總計 4.08 億美元，減少了福利，同時抵消了日本遞延利潤負債的釋放，使已賺取保費減少了 7,500 萬美元。可變投資收益比我們的長期回報預期低 2700 萬美元。。

Adjusted book value per share, including foreign currency translation gains and losses, increased 7.3%, and the adjusted ROE was 16.7%. The an acceptable spread to our cost of capital. Overall, we view these results in the quarter as solid.

調整後的每股帳面價值（包括外幣折算損益）成長了 7.3%，調整後的股本回報率為 16.7%。我們的資本成本的利差是可以接受的。總體而言，我們認為本季的這些結果是可靠的。

Starting with our Japan segment. Net and premiums for the quarter declined 10.5%. This decline reflects a JPY 7.3 billion negative impact from an internal cancer reinsurance transaction executed in the fourth quarter of 2023 and JPY 4.6 billion negative impact from paid-up policies. In addition, there is a JPY 13.3 billion negative impact from deferred profit liability, the majority of which is a onetime impact from unlocking of LDTI assumptions. At the same time, policies in force declined 2.3%. Japan's total benefit ratio came in at 49.2% for the quarter, down 15.9 percentage points year-over-year. And the third sector benefit ratio was 41.8%, down approximately 13 percentage points year-over-year.

從我們的日本部分開始。本季淨收入和保費下降 10.5%。這一下降反映了 2023 年第四季執行的內部癌症再保險交易造成的 73 億日圓負面影響以及繳清保單造成的 46 億日圓負面影響。此外，遞延利潤負債也產生了 133 億日圓的負面影響，其中大部分是解除 LDTI 假設帶來的一次性影響。與此同時，現行政策下降了 2.3%。日本本季的總福利率為 49.2%，年減 15.9 個百分點。第三部門受益率為41.8%，年減約13個百分點。

We estimate the impact from remeasurement gains to be approximately 18 percentage points favorable to the benefit ratio in Q3 2024. Long-term experience trends as it relates to treatment of cancer and hospitalization continue to be in place, leading to continued favorable underwriting experience. Given the impact from unlocking, we now expect the full year benefit ratio to end up in the range of 62% to 63%. Persistency remained solid with a rate of 93.3%, which was down 20 basis points year-over-year. This change in persistency is in line with our expectations.

我們估計重新計量收益的影響約為 18 個百分點，有利於 2024 年第三季的福利比率。與癌症治療和住院治療相關的長期經驗趨勢持續存在，導致持續良好的承保經驗。考慮到解鎖的影響，我們目前預計全年福利比率最終將在 62% 至 63% 的範圍內。持續率維持穩定，為 93.3%，較去年同期下降 20 個基點。這種持久性的改變符合我們的預期。

Our expense ratio in Japan was 20%, up 100 basis points year-over-year, driven primarily by a decline in revenues. Adjusted net investment income in yen terms was up 0.1% as the benefits from lower hedge costs and favorable impact from foreign currency on U.S. dollar investments in yen terms were largely offset by lower floating rate income and lower volume as we have continued to shift assets from Aflac Japan to Aflac Re, Bermuda. The pretax margin for Japan in the quarter was 44.7%, up 11.9 percentage points year-over-year, a very good result. For the full year, we now expect the pretax margin to be in the range of 35% to 36%.

我們在日本的費用率為 20%，較去年同期上升 100 個基點，這主要是由於收入下降所致。以日圓計價的調整後淨投資收益成長了0.1%，因為對沖成本降低以及外幣對以日圓計價的美元投資的有利影響在很大程度上被較低的浮動利率收入和較低的交易量所抵消，因為我們繼續將資產從其他國家轉移。日本本季稅前利潤率為44.7%，較去年成長11.9個百分點，成績非常好。我們目前預計全年稅前利潤率將在 35% 至 36% 之間。

Turning to U.S. results. Net earned premium was up 2.8%, and Persistency increased 20 basis points year-over-year to 78.9%. Considering our year-to-date results, we now expect full year net earned premium to be towards the lower end of our guidance range of 3% to 5%. Our total benefit ratio came in at 47.6%, 11.7 percentage points higher than Q3 2023, driven by lower remeasurement gains than a year ago. We estimate that the remeasurement gains impacted the benefit ratio by approximately 120 basis points in the quarter. Claims utilization has rebounded from depressed levels during the pandemic and are now more in line with our long-term expectations.

轉向美國的結果。淨賺保費成長 2.8%，持續性年增 20 個基點，達到 78.9%。考慮到我們今年迄今的業績，我們現在預計全年淨賺保費將接近我們指導範圍 3% 至 5% 的下限。由於重新計量收益低於一年前，我們的總福利比率為 47.6%，比 2023 年第三季高出 11.7 個百分點。我們估計，重新計量收益對本季福利比率的影響約為 120 個基點。索賠利用率已從疫情期間的低迷水準反彈，現在更符合我們的長期預期。

For the full year, we would expect the benefit ratio to be towards the higher end of our guidance range of 45% to 47%. Our expense ratio in the US was 38%, down 260 basis points year-over-year, primarily driven by platforms improving scale and strong expense management. Given business seasonality, we would expect an uptick in expense ratio for Q4 but to remain with our guidance range of 38% to 40% for the full year.

就全年而言，我們預計福利比率將接近我們指導範圍的高端 45% 至 47%。我們在美國的費用率為 38%，年減 260 個基點，主要是受到平台規模擴大和強有力的費用管理的推動。考慮到業務季節性，我們預計第四季度費用率將上升，但全年費用率仍將維持在 38% 至 40% 的指導範圍內。

Our growth initiatives, group life and disability, network dental and vision and direct-to-consumer increased our total expense ratio by 100 basis points. This is in line with our expectations, and we would expect this impact to decrease going forward as these businesses grow to scale, and improve their profitability. Adjusted net investment income in the U.S. was up 0.5%, mainly driven by higher fixed rate income. Profitability in the U.S. segment was solid with a pretax margin of 20.8%, also a good result. Our total commercial real estate loan watch list remains approximately $1 billion with less than $250 million in process of foreclosure currently.

我們的成長計劃、團體人壽和殘疾、網路牙科和視力以及直接面向消費者的計劃使我們的總費用率增加了 100 個基點。這符合我們的預期，隨著這些業務規模的擴大和獲利能力的提高，我們預計這種影響將會減少。美國調整後淨投資收益成長 0.5%，主要受到固定利率收益上升的推動。美國業務的獲利能力穩健，稅前利潤率為 20.8%，也是不錯的成績。我們的商業房地產貸款觀察名單總額仍約為 10 億美元，目前正在取消抵押品贖回權的金額不足 2.5 億美元。

As a result of these current low valuation marks, we increased our CECL reserves associated with these loans by $3 million in this quarter, net of charge-offs. We've had 1 foreclosure moved into real estate-owned. We continue to believe that the current distressed market does not reflect the true intrinsic value of our portfolio, which is why we are confident in our ability to take ownership of these assets, manage them through this cycle and maximize our recoveries. Our portfolio of first lien senior secured middle market loans continued to perform well with losses below our expectations for this point in the cycle.

由於目前估值較低，我們在本季將與這些貸款相關的 CECL 準備金增加了 300 萬美元（扣除沖銷後）。我們已經將 1 處喪失抵押品贖回權的房產轉入房地產。我們仍然認為，當前的困境市場並不能反映我們投資組合的真正內在價值，這就是為什麼我們對擁有這些資產、在這個週期中管理它們並最大限度地提高我們的回收率的能力充滿信心。我們的第一留置權優先擔保中間市場貸款組合持續表現良好，損失低於我們對此週期的預期。

In our corporate segment, we recorded a pretax gain of $15 million. Adjusted net investment income was $37 million higher than last year due to a combination of higher rates and asset balances, which included the impact of reinsurance transactions in Q4 of 2023 as well as continued lower volume of tax credit investments. These tax credit investments impacted the corporate net investment income line for U.S. GAAP purposes negatively by $57 million in the quarter with an associated credit to the tax line. The net impact to our bottom line was a positive $5 million in the quarter.

在我們的企業部門，我們錄得 1500 萬美元的稅前收益。由於利率和資產餘額增加，調整後的淨投資收入比去年增加了 3,700 萬美元，其中包括 2023 年第四季再保險交易的影響以及稅收抵免投資量持續減少。這些稅收抵免投資對本季按照美國公認會計原則 (GAAP) 計算的企業淨投資收入線產生了 5,700 萬美元的負面影響，並對稅收線進行了相關抵免。本季對我們利潤的淨影響為 500 萬美元。

To date, these investments are performing well and in line with our expectations. We are continuing to build out our internal reinsurance platform, and I'm pleased with the outcome and performance. In the fourth quarter, we intend to execute another tranche with similar structure and economics in yen terms to our October 2023 transaction. Our capital position remained strong, and we ended the quarter with an SMR about 1,100% and our combined RBC, while not finalized, we estimate to be greater than 650%. These are strong capital ratios, which we actively monitor, stress and manage to withstand credit cycles as well as external shocks.

到目前為止，這些投資表現良好，符合我們的預期。我們正在繼續建立我們的內部再保險平台，我對結果和表現感到滿意。在第四季度，我們打算執行另一筆交易，其結構和經濟狀況與我們 2023 年 10 月的交易類似（以日圓計算）。我們的資本狀況依然強勁，本季末我們的 SMR 約為 1,100%，我們的綜合 RBC 雖然尚未最終確定，但我們估計將超過 650%。這些是強大的資本比率，我們積極監控、強調並設法抵禦信貸週期和外部衝擊。

US. statutory impairments were $58 million, and there were no additional Japan FSA impairments in Q3. This is well within our expectations and with limited impact to both earnings and capital. As we hold approximately 60% of our debt in yen, our leverage increased to 21% as a result of the move in the yen-dollar exchange rate, well within our target range of 20% to 25%. Our leverage will fluctuate with movements in the yen-dollar rate. This is intentional and part of our enterprise hedging program protecting the economic value of Aflac Japan in the US dollar terms.

我們。法定減損額為 5,800 萬美元，第三季沒有額外的日本 FSA 減損。這完全在我們的預期之內，對收益和資本的影響有限。由於我們持有約 60% 的日圓債務，因此日圓兌美元匯率的變動導致我們的槓桿率增加至 21%，完全在我們 20% 至 25% 的目標範圍內。我們的槓桿率將隨著日圓兌美元匯率的變動而波動。這是我們有意為之的，也是我們企業對沖計劃的一部分，旨在保護 Aflac Japan 以美元計算的經濟價值。

Unencumbered holding company liquidity stood at $3.9 billion, $2.1 billion above our minimum balance. We repurchased $500 million of our own stock and paid dividends of $280 million in Q3, 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. Thank you. And I will now hand over to David to begin Q&A.

未支配的控股公司流動性為 39 億美元，比我們的最低餘額高出 21 億美元。我們在第三季回購了 5 億美元的自有股票，並支付了 2.8 億美元的股息，為這些資本部署提供了良好的相對 IRR。我們將繼續在管理資產負債表和部署資本方面保持靈活和戰術性，以推動強勁的風險調整後淨資產收益率，並顯著降低我們的資本成本。謝謝。現在我將請大衛開始問答。

Thank you, Max. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你，麥克斯。（操作員說明）

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Joel Hurwitz, Dowling & Partners.

喬爾‧赫維茲 (Joel Hurwitz)，道林合夥人事務所。

I wanted to start on Japan sales. So Third sector sales continues to be a bit challenged. Can you just talk about plans for both cancer and medical? And what are you expecting from sales promotions related to the 50th anniversary?

我想從日本銷售開始。因此，第三部門的銷售仍面臨一些挑戰。您能談談癌症和醫療方面的計劃嗎？您對與 50 週年相關的促銷活動有何期待？

(Interpreted) This is Yoshizumi, In charge of Sales and Marketing in Japan. So let me first start off with how we are successful. And the reason for that is because of this new product that we've launched, which is an asset formation product plus the nursing care coverage. And this product also has a feature that once it becomes paid up, this can be converted into medical, nursing care or death benefit. First of all, again, this [Sumitas] was developed to meet the young and middle-aged customers' needs for asset formation and contribute to the expansion of third sector sales. And considerable preparations for sales from June through third quarter led to 12.3% growth.

（翻譯）我是 Yoshizumi，負責日本的銷售和行銷。首先讓我從我們如何取得成功開始。原因是因為我們推出了這個新產品，這是一個資產形成產品加上護理保險。而這個產品還有一個特點，一旦繳清，就可以轉換成醫療、照護或死亡撫卹金。首先，再說一遍，這款【Sumitas】是為了滿足中青年客戶的資產形成需求而開發的，為第三部門銷售的擴大做出了貢獻。從 6 月到第三季度，大量的銷售準備導致了 12.3% 的成長。

And the purpose was to approach young and mite new customers and new customers. As well as proposing additional sales of third sector products. And also to cross-sell products. And this has led to revitalizing the sales activities of the associates. So as a result, what we are expecting is that our third sector sales would grow increase by selling Sumitas.

其目的就是為了接近年輕人，吸引新客戶、新客戶。並建議增加第三部門產品的銷售。並且還可以交叉銷售產品。這也重振了員工的銷售活動。因此，我們預計我們的第三部門銷售額將透過出售 Sumitas 來成長。

Now let me turn to (inaudible) insurance. And as you mentioned, by using efficient anniversary as our trader or a hook, we are trying to sell our cancer insurance and cross-sell cancer insurance. And as you may know, our cancer insurance was launched two years ago, meaning that it has gone two years already. We have a service called Concierge Service that no other company is able to offer. In other words, this is called the [Urico Cancer consultation support service]. And what we are trying to do is by using to appeal this product and service, we are using TV commercials and web advertisement to really appeal the value of this product and service.

現在讓我談談（聽不清楚）保險。正如您所提到的，透過使用高效的周年紀念日作為我們的交易者或鉤子，我們正在嘗試銷售我們的癌症保險和交叉銷售癌症保險。如您所知，我們的癌症保險是兩年前推出的，這意味著它已經過去兩年了。我們有一項稱為禮賓服務的服務，這是其他公司無法提供的。換句話說，這就是所謂的[Urico癌症諮詢支援服務]。我們正在努力做的是透過使用來吸引這個產品和服務，我們正在使用電視廣告和網路廣告來真正吸引這個產品和服務的價值。

And we are also considering to launch a new product around spring next year. So as a result, we are expecting that our cancer sales will increase. Now turning to medical insurance. We've changed the product name and [re-rounded]. And this is also one of its kind that only Aflac has in terms of the coverage, and it's really attracting attention of the market. In other words, we have this mostly coverage feature that no other company has. And we would like to grow the sale of this product together with Sumitas.

而且我們也在考慮明年春季左右推出新產品。因此，我們預計我們的癌症銷售額將會增加。現在轉向醫療保險。我們更改了產品名稱並[重新四捨五入]。而這也是Aflac獨有的覆蓋範圍之一，實在吸引了市場的注意。換句話說，我們擁有其他公司沒有的主要覆蓋範圍功能。我們希望與 Sumitas 一起增加該產品的銷量。

And we've also launched a new plan for middle and older aged customers over 50 years old. So as a result, we are seeing a gradual recovery in medical sales, and we are expecting good sales from it. And overall, we are expecting that our third sector product sales will recover and increase because of the reasons that I've mentioned at the same time, we have been quite successful in recruiting sales agents for the third sector, and we are strengthening our sales force, too. That's all for me.

我們也推出了針對50歲以上中老年客戶的新計畫。因此，我們看到醫療銷售逐漸復甦，我們預計會有良好的銷售。總的來說，我們預計我們的第三部門產品銷售將恢復並增加，因為我同時提到的原因，我們在招募第三部門的銷售代理方面非常成功，並且我們正在加強我們的銷售力也。這就是我的全部。

Tom Gallagher from Evercore ISI.

Evercore ISI 的 Tom Gallagher。

First question just on capital allocation, and I'll just have a quick follow-up on sales. So can you talk a bit about broader capital allocation, how you're thinking about it? I know the buyback was a bit lower this quarter, but you have the strong level of excess capital accumulating. Any thoughts on a special dividend, M&A, as you think about -- let's just say if the stock does continue to trade at strong levels, what would your plans be? Would you still do good levels of buybacks heading into next year? Or would you consider these other options? .

第一個問題只是關於資本分配，我將快速跟進銷售情況。那麼您能談談更廣泛的資本配置嗎？我知道本季的回購量有點低，但過剩資本的累積水準很高。正如您所考慮的那樣，您對特別股息、併購有什麼想法嗎？進入明年，您還會進行高水準的回購嗎？或者您會考慮其他選擇嗎？。

Thank you, Tom. You're right in acknowledging that our capital ratios, they are strong. We are also generating significant capital both organically throughout our operations, plus what we are doing around reinsurance as well, freeing up additional levels of capital. So we are very strong on that front. And then we look at all of those opportunities that you mentioned, and I would not put anything off the table.

謝謝你，湯姆。您承認我們的資本比率很高，這是正確的。我們也在整個營運過程中有機地產生大量資本，再加上我們在再保險方面所做的事情，釋放了額外的資本。所以我們在這方面非常強大。然後我們會考慮你提到的所有這些機會，我不會放棄任何事情。

We evaluate where we can get the best returns currently, but more importantly, long term. When we evaluate our business, we think about it over the next 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 years and think about what is going to generate the highest return on that capital for us over that time period. And especially when you think strategically around things like M&A, you have to take that into consideration.

我們評估目前在哪裡可以獲得最佳回報，但更重要的是長期回報。當我們評估我們的業務時，我們會考慮未來 1、2、3、5、10、15、20 年的情況，並考慮在這段時間內什麼將為我們帶來最高的資本回報。尤其是當您圍繞併購等問題進行策略思考時，您必須考慮到這一點。

So these are the things that go into our capital allocation consideration, both in terms of, obviously, how much we have, how we see capital generation coming to us and then ultimately, the returns that we can get. And we really mean it when we say that we are thinking about what those returns are, and it is a dynamic world where these things are changing but I will not take anything off the table. That includes, obviously, everything that you mentioned.

因此，這些都是我們資本配置所考慮的因素，顯然，我們擁有多少資本，我們如何看待資本的產生，以及最終我們可以獲得的回報。當我們說我們正在考慮這些回報是什麼時，我們是認真的，這是一個動態的世界，這些事情正在發生變化，但我不會放棄任何東西。顯然，這包括您提到的所有內容。

Okay. And just a follow-up on sales. Can you give a sense for the split between -- of the first sector product you're selling? What's the split between new customers versus existing customers that are buying that product?

好的。只是銷售的後續行動。您能否解釋一下您所銷售的第一個部門產品之間的差異？購買該產品的新客戶與現有客戶有何不同？

(Interpreted) So if you're asking about the new customer ratio of the sale of first sector product. Well, right now, sales to existing customers is larger than to those of new customers. And this is always the case when we launch a new product. And when we do this kind of first sector sale, there's always a cross-sell, and we do -- we are meeting the expected level of cross-sell rate at the moment. And as we move forward on a monthly basis, more and more new customers are increasing. .

（解釋）所以如果你問的是第一部門產品銷售的新客戶比例。嗯，目前，對現有客戶的銷售額比對新客戶的銷售額更大。當我們推出新產品時，情況總是如此。當我們進行這種第一部門銷售時，總是會出現交叉銷售，而我們確實做到了——目前我們達到了交叉銷售率的預期水平。隨著我們逐月前進，越來越多的新客戶正在增加。。

And what it also means is that when we explore -- try to acquire young and middle-aged customers using [Cintas], that just purely means that we are trying to acquire new customers. So our strategy to increase new customers after we go around the cycle of approaching to our existing customers, and that's what we are doing. And that's our strategy. Thank you. That's all.

這也意味著，當我們探索—嘗試使用[Cintas]來獲取年輕和中年客戶時，這純粹意味著我們正在嘗試獲取新客戶。因此，我們的策略是在接近現有客戶的周期之後增加新客戶，而這就是我們正在做的事情。這就是我們的策略。謝謝。就這樣。

I'd like to make a comment about that. I would say that the numbers are falling in line with our expectations. We thought it would be over 20%. We hope it would be closer to 25%. Sure not been started at about 20%, and it's moved up to 25%. And so that's in the range of what we had anticipated or maybe even a little better. So we're very pleased with (inaudible) and what is taking place and how it's bringing on new customers for us, young and middle age. So that should answer your question.

我想對此發表評論。我想說的是，這些數字正在下降，符合我們的預期。我們原以為會超過20%。我們希望能夠接近 25%。剛開始的時候一定不是20%左右，現在已經上升到25%了。所以這在我們的預期範圍之內，甚至可能更好一些。因此，我們對（聽不清楚）正在發生的事情以及它如何為我們（年輕人和中年人）帶來新客戶感到非常滿意。所以這應該可以回答你的問題。

Wes Carmichael from Autonomous Research. .

來自自治研究的韋斯·卡邁克爾。。

From Yoshizumi-san's remarks, it sounds like the sales force is really leaning into (inaudible), I guess my question is, does this really kind of like contemplate a fee change where we should see a greater contribution from first sector sales going forward. And I know, Max, you said the returns after reinsurance are kind of similar to third sector products. So really just want to understand strategically if we should expect that mix to be more balanced going forward, between first sector and [third].

從吉住先生的言論來看，聽起來銷售人員確實傾向於（聽不清楚），我想我的問題是，這是否真的類似於考慮費用變化，我們應該看到未來第一部門銷售的更大貢獻。我知道，麥克斯，你說過再保險後的回報有點類似第三部門產品。因此，我真的只是想從策略上了解我們是否應該期望第一部門和第一部門之間的混合會更加平衡。[第三]。

Given what Japan is going through and I would and I would expect --

考慮到日本正在經歷的事情，我會並且我會期望--

[Interpreted] So our strategy can be divided in two parts. One is, of course, to ensure profitability by using reinsurance. And the other is as I've mentioned earlier, by (inaudible), we are also bringing in new third sector. And that way, we are trying to secure profits and revenue from that perspective.

【解讀】所以我們的策略可以分成兩個部分。其一當然是透過再保險來確保獲利能力。另一個是正如我之前提到的（聽不清楚），我們也引進了新的第三部門。這樣，我們就試著從這個角度確保利潤和收入。

Let me add a comment to that answer. (inaudible) has important aspects to many parts of our business. And it is the fact that Japan as a society, obviously, is aging. And with that, there is a significant increase in retirement needs and retirement funding. And Japan is pushing harder to become more of an asset management country as well with policies. That means that we would expect that a retirement products are going to going to be and more important tool for both the financial industry and for us going forward.

讓我對該答案添加評論。 （聽不清楚）對我們業務的許多部分都有重要影響。事實上，日本作為一個社會，顯然正在老化。隨之而來的是退休需求和退休資金的顯著增加。日本正透過政策更加努力地成為一個資產管理國家。這意味著我們預計退休產品將成為金融業和我們未來發展的更重要的工具。

And you have seen how Yoshizumi-san outlined how we are using (inaudible) to then also cross-sell our third sector business. So I would expect it to be a more meaningful part of our portfolio going forward than what it has been in a more recent past I still definitely think that we will predominantly be a third sector company, but where the first sector savings business will be a meaningful component of our total sales.

您已經看到吉住先生如何概述我們如何利用（聽不清楚）來交叉銷售我們的第三部門業務。因此，我預計它將成為我們未來投資組合中比最近更有意義的一部分，我仍然肯定認為我們將主要是一家第三部門公司，但第一部門儲蓄業務將是我們總銷售額的重要組成部分。

Ryan Krueger from KBW.

來自 KBW 的瑞恩·克魯格。

I had a question on the Japan benefit ratio. I think coming into the year, your guidance was 66% to 68%. I guess when we think about the assumptions unlocking, and year-to-date experience, would you expect that to be improved from the original expectation going forward? I guess it looks like your guidance for the full year implied maybe something closer to [65 to 67] in the fourth quarter. .

我對日本的福利比率有疑問。我認為進入今年，你們的指導是 66% 到 68%。我想當我們考慮解鎖的假設和今年迄今為止的經驗時，您是否認為未來會比最初的預期有所改善？我猜你對全年的指導似乎暗示第四季可能更接近 [65 到 67]。。

The impact from this unlock is that we have lowered the future net premium ratio by roughly 100 basis points. So all things being equal, that means that we would expect our benefit ratio going forward for our in-force business to be roughly 100 basis points lower than what we previously expected before the unlock. So it does have an impact for future benefit ratios as well. And that would apply going into 2025 as well.

這次解鎖的影響是，我們將未來淨保費率降低了約 100 個基點。因此，在所有條件相同的情況下，這意味著我們預計有效業務的未來福利比率將比我們先前在解鎖前的預期低約 100 個基點。因此，它確實也會對未來的福利比率產生影響。這也適用於 2025 年。

And then just a quick one. Can you give us your run rate earnings expectations for the corporate segment at this point? I guess, let's say, assuming 0 tax credit impact.

然後是快速的。您能否告訴我們您目前對企業部門的運作率獲利預期？我想，假設稅收抵免影響為零。

So, in this quarter, we had a $15 million pretax profit and the tax credit investments lowered that number by roughly $57 million on a pretax basis. So that will get you closer to the run rate as of this quarter. I would acknowledge that this is an area where we are sensitive to short-term yields. So if you have a short-term yields coming down, that would put pressure a little bit on that number. But I would expect that in the near term, our run rate profitability should be that we will continue to be profitable in that segment, all things being equal for -- that's the current run rate.

因此，在本季度，我們的稅前利潤為 1500 萬美元，而稅收抵免投資使該數字在稅前基礎上減少了約 5700 萬美元。因此，這將使您更接近本季的運行率。我承認這是我們對短期收益率敏感的領域。因此，如果短期收益率下降，這會對這個數字造成一些壓力。但我預計，在短期內，我們的運行率獲利能力應該是，在所有條件相同的情況下，我們將繼續在該領域實現盈利——這就是當前的運行率。

John Barnidge from Piper Sandler. .

派珀·桑德勒的約翰·巴尼奇。。

My question sticks there. On the 100 basis points of future benefit ratio benefit that are or do you take into account long-term experience? Would short-term experience that continues to be favorable, be incremental to that 100 basis points .

我的問題就在那裡。未來福利比率的100個基點的好處是或您是否考慮了長期經驗？持續有利的短期經驗是否會增加到 100 個基點。

Let me start off, and I'll ask [Alisha], our Global Chief actor to fill in with any common she may have. Obviously, when we do a deep type study as we just concluded, we try to incorporate all the experience that we've had to date, but then also obviously unlocking future assumptions. In those future assumptions, there is a future trend incorporated in that.

首先，我會請我們的全球首席演員 [Alisha] 填寫她可能有的任何共同點。顯然，當我們像剛剛得出的結論那樣進行深入研究時，我們嘗試整合迄今為止的所有經驗，但顯然也解鎖了未來的假設。在這些未來的假設中，包含了未來的趨勢。

And if future experience tends -- if it would were to deviate to that trend that could lead to either further releases or increases related to that. But I do want to acknowledge that there is an element of a future trend incorporated in these unlocks as well.

如果未來的經驗趨向於偏離這種趨勢，則可能會導致進一步的發布或與此相關的增加。但我確實想承認，這些解鎖也包含了未來趨勢的元素。

Thank you, Max. Yes, we incorporated our future trend into our unlock this year. So we believe we have reflected all of our current experience and expectations. We do review our assumptions annually to investigate new trends, but all of that has currently been reflected in this unlock.

謝謝你，麥克斯。是的，我們把未來的趨勢融入了今年的解鎖中。因此，我們相信我們已經反映了我們當前的所有經驗和期望。我們每年都會審查我們的假設以調查新趨勢，但所有這些目前都已反映在本次解鎖中。

And my follow-up question that's related following an 18-point benefit from the unlock, do you view that, that increases the total addressable market for liabilities that over the long term could potentially go to Bermuda?

我的後續問題與解鎖帶來的 18 點好處有關，您認為這會增加長期可能流向百慕達的負債的總可尋址市場嗎？

Yes. I would view them as somewhat unrelated. This unlock is a US GAAP unlock only. with no impact to our US statutory results in the US and reserves and no impact to our FSA results or FSA reserves. So I would not draw that link.

是的。我認為它們有些無關。此解鎖僅適用於美國 GAAP 解鎖。對我們在美國的法定業績和儲備沒有影響，對我們的 FSA 業績或 FSA 儲備也沒有影響。所以我不會畫那個連結。

Jimmy Bhullar from JPMorgan.

摩根大通的吉米·布拉爾 (Jimmy Bhullar)。

First, I had a question on just your expected -- your expectations for how (inaudible) sales are going to trend? Should we assume that they're going to keep growing from here? Or was there sort of a pent-up demand phenomena to where sales will begin to fade over the next few quarters?

首先，我有一個關於您的預期的問題 - 您對（聽不清楚）銷售趨勢的預期？我們是否應該假設他們會從這裡繼續成長？或者是否存在某種被壓抑的需求現象，導致未來幾季的銷售額將開始下降？

(Interpreted) Thank you for the questions. Let me answer this question. This is Yoshizumi once again.

（翻譯）謝謝你的提問。讓我來回答這個問題。這又是吉住。

Well, (inaudible) was launched in June as a new product. And in that month, in June, we had a very big sales. And the reason why we were able to do so is because we had fully prepared for it in advance of the launch. And from July and on,(inaudible) sales have been successful, and it is meeting the level that we have been expecting. And as I have mentioned several times that (inaudible) is very well known and we're very well taken by customers, and it's a very popular product in the market.

嗯，（聽不清楚）作為新產品於六月推出。在那個月，六月，我們的銷售額非常大。而我們之所以能夠做到這一點，是因為我們在上線之前就已經做好了充分的準備。從七月開始，（聽不清楚）銷售一直很成功，並且達到了我們一直期望的水平。正如我多次提到的，（聽不清楚）非常有名，我們很受客戶歡迎，而且它是市場上非常受歡迎的產品。

So as a result, what we are thinking is that until the end of the year, perhaps next quarter, we should be able to generate a very stable number from (inaudible). And as I have mentioned earlier that this product is very popular among young people because this product does meet the needs of these young people. And what that means is that during their payment period, they would have asset formation function as well as nursing care. And then after that period, the customer can choose from medical nursing care or a death benefit. And that's the reason why this product is so popular among young people.

因此，我們的想法是，直到今年年底，也許下個季度，我們應該能夠產生一個非常穩定的數字（聽不清楚）。而且前面也提到過，這個產品很受年輕人的歡迎，因為這個產品確實滿足了這些年輕人的需求。這意味著，在他們的繳費期內，他們將具有資產形成功能和護理功能。在此期限之後，客戶可以選擇醫療照護或死亡撫卹金。這也是該產品如此受年輕人歡迎的原因。

So my conclusion is that we are expecting to have a certain level of sales from (inaudible) going forward as well. That's all for me.

所以我的結論是，我們預期未來（聽不清楚）也能達到一定的銷售水準。這就是我的全部。

Okay. And then on the US business, it seems like incurred claims are running a lot higher so far this year. than they have in the last several years. Is that a mix issue? Or are you just seeing usage in some of the products pick up? Or are there other factors driving that? .

好的。然後就美國企業而言，今年迄今發生的索賠似乎要高得多。比過去幾年的情況要多。這是混合問題嗎？或者您只是看到某些產品的使用量增加？還是還有其他因素推動這股趨勢？。

This is Virgil from the US. It is -- I would say that some of it is definitely delivered an [extension] on our part. We want to make sure that we put the value of the benefits in the hands of the policyholders but we don't want to over toggle. So what we've done this year is we've increased benefits on certain lines of business at no additional cost. We've gone out and pushed campaigns for consumers to file with benefits to make sure that we try to catch any type of problem before it turns into a long-term condition.

我是來自美國的維吉爾。我想說，其中一些肯定是我們提供的[擴展]。我們希望確保將福利的價值交到保單持有人手中，但我們不想過度切換。因此，我們今年所做的就是在不增加成本的情況下增加了某些業務領域的收益。我們已經出去推動消費者申請福利的活動，以確保我們盡力在任何類型的問題變成長期狀況之前發現它。

And then the last thing I would say to you, though, is that mix does matter. We've been pushing on the cancer business while an individual line of business, and we've had good success year-to-date with sales up about 9%. And then the last thing I would say is we introduced and I mentioned this before, about our stronger underwriting discipline on our VB benefits. And we're really looking now to bring on business with high turnover and thus yielding better persistency for us over the long term.

不過，我要對你說的最後一件事是，混合確實很重要。我們一直在推動癌症業務的同時開展個人業務，今年迄今我們取得了良好的成功，銷售額增長了約 9%。我要說的最後一件事是我們介紹了並且我之前提到過這一點，關於我們對 VB 福利的更嚴格的承保紀律。我們現在確實希望開展高營業額業務，從而為我們帶來更好的長期持久性。

All of these things are factoring in to help drive a move that benefit ratio. We are constantly monitoring though, to make sure that we're within our tolerance.

所有這些因素都被考慮在內，以幫助推動福利比率的變化。不過，我們會不斷進行監控，以確保在我們的容忍範圍內。

And then just to add to that, there is one more mix impact that is running through the US results. And that is as we grow our group life and disability business and that becomes a greater proportion of our in-force that will, over time, drive up the benefit ratio for the US segment the Group Life and Disability business, we would expect to run at sort of a low 80s benefit ratio. So all things being equal, that will continue to push that benefit ratio higher.

除此之外，美國的業績還存在著另一種混合影響。也就是說，隨著我們發展我們的團體人壽和殘疾業務，並且該業務在我們的有效人員中所佔的比例越來越大，隨著時間的推移，這將提高美國部門團體人壽和殘疾業務的福利比率，我們預計將運行福利比率略低於 80 年代。因此，在所有條件相同的情況下，這將繼續推高福利比率。

Wilma Burdis from Raymond James.

雷蒙德·詹姆斯的威爾瑪·布爾迪斯。

I guess what is the date recent promotions? Could you talk a little bit about what you're most focused on from a development and succession perspective over the next couple of years?

我猜最近的促銷活動是哪一天？您能否從未來幾年的發展和繼任角度談談您最關注的是什麼？

Wilma, there was something that moved when you asked the question at the very start. What were you asking?

威爾瑪，當你一開始問這個問題時，有一些東西讓你感動。你問什麼？

Sorry, I said for Dan, given the recent promotions, could you talk a little bit more about what you're focused on from a development and succession perspective for the next couple of years? .

抱歉，我對 Dan 說，考慮到最近的晉升，您能否從未來幾年的發展和繼任者角度多談談您的重點是什麼？。

Well, I think the first question is how does it relate to me specifically and what are my plans? And my plans really haven't changed. I serve at the pleasure of the Board and frankly, enjoy doing that. They ultimately make the final decisions on what they want to happen, but I'm enjoying it. But at the same time, I owe it to the shareholders and the Board to make sure there's a succession plan and there's a depth in management that is there to show our ability to continue on without disruption.

嗯，我認為第一個問題是它與我具體有何關係以及我的計劃是什麼？而我的計劃確實沒有改變。我為董事會服務，坦白說，我很享受這樣做。他們最終對他們想要發生的事情做出最終決定，但我很享受。但同時，我對股東和董事會負責，確保有一個繼任計劃，並且有足夠的管理深度，以表明我們有能力在不受干擾的情況下繼續發展。

And I believe that we've got the people in place with the opportunity. And first, I have suggested to the Board and that they begin to place someone internally several people that they think have potential to take over 1 day. And certainly, Virgil is at the top of that list. I have to say I'm very pleased with the U.S. because it's become a much different company than it was five years ago. As we've gotten into the flats business that I think it was Max was talking about, and we've seen look at group business and how Virgil mentioned that we're not right in certain types of business.

我相信我們已經為擁有這個機會的人員做好了準備。首先，我已向董事會建議，他們開始在內部安排一些他們認為有潛力接手一天的人員。當然，維吉爾位居榜首。我不得不說我對美國非常滿意，因為它已經成為一家與五年前截然不同的公司。當我們進入公寓業務時，我認為這是麥克斯正在談論的，我們已經看到了集團業務以及維吉爾如何提到我們在某些​​類型的業務中並不正確。

And then we've got our distribution channel, which is very unusual. There really aren't many people out there that have the distribution channel that we have from an independent agents perspective. And then building on the broker business and what's going on there in the US. And so, yes, I think he certainly deserves the opportunity to have his name in the pot for what will take place when I do retire at some point in time.

然後我們就有了我們的分銷管道，這是非常不尋常的。從獨立代理商的角度來看，擁有我們這樣的通路的人確實不多。然後以經紀業務和美國正在發生的事情為基礎。所以，是的，我認為他當然應該有機會讓他的名字出現在我退休時的某個時間點上將會發生的事情上。

I think Max is showing his strength on the call today and what he's doing. And he's gone in as if it was uninterrupted with the job that Fred was doing before he left this year. And so I've been very pleased with that. And then Audrey has always been an outstanding person for us from counsel, from independent review of not just that, but any issue that might be out there that concerns understanding the employees, understanding the law, understanding all of those aspects of it. So I feel very good about these promotions.

我認為馬克斯在今天的電話會議上展示了他的實力以及他正在做的事情。他的工作就好像弗雷德今年離開前所做的工作沒有受到干擾一樣。所以我對此非常滿意。對我們來說，奧黛麗一直是一位出色的人，無論是從律師角度，還是從獨立審查角度來看，不僅如此，而且還包括任何可能存在的涉及了解員工、了解法律、了解其所有這些方面的問題。所以我對這些促銷活動感覺非常好。

And then we had several others our Head of IT, being Executive Vice President, and she is doing a great job. She's rated [1 of the 100] Best women in America in the IT area. So we're lucky to have her. You heard [Alicia] has been with us a little over a year, and she has jumped right in. So I'm very pleased with the bench. We've got Robin, who's now Chief Accounting Officer of the company and you, we've got [Fred Samar]. Certainly, what Brad has done has been uninterrupted in terms of taking over Eric's position. So all in all, I have to tell you that our bench is strong.

然後我們還有其他幾位 IT 主管擔任執行副總裁，她做得很好。她被評為美國 IT 領域最佳女性 [100 名]。所以我們很幸運能擁有她。你聽說[艾莉西亞]已經和我們在一起一年多了，她馬上就加入了。所以我對板凳非常滿意。我們有羅賓，他現在是公司的首席會計官，還有你，我們有[弗雷德·薩馬爾]。當然，布拉德在接替埃里克的位置上所做的事情一直沒有間斷過。總而言之，我必須告訴你，我們的替補席很強大。

Most of them are relatively new in the positions. They've had more responsibility added to them in certain cases, as is in the case of Brad, he's picked up more. You've seen it with Max and what's taking place. So all in all, that's where I am. And I'll just tell you that I'm happy and we'll continue on.

他們中的大多數人都是新職位。在某些情況下，他們承擔了更多的責任，就像布拉德的情況一樣，他承擔了更多的責任。你已經看到了麥克斯和正在發生的事情。總而言之，這就是我所在的地方。我只想告訴你我很高興我們會繼續下去。

But I want someone that if something happened tomorrow, there would be a smooth transition and the Board has plenty of options to do what they deem as necessary.

但我希望有人知道，如果明天發生什麼事情，將會順利過渡，董事會有很多選擇來做他們認為必要的事情。

And congrats to Virgil, Max and Audrey as well. One maybe for Virgil, could you discuss any macro or employment environment impacts that you're seeing in the US that are impacting sales and/or recruiting .

也恭喜維吉爾、麥克斯和奧黛麗。維吉爾（Virgil）可能會討論您在美國看到的任何對銷售和/或招聘產生影響的宏觀或就業環境影響。

Yes. Thank you for the question. And thank you for the congratulations. I'm excited about the opportunity. and look forward to partnering with my colleagues here and pushing the affect forward for the future. I would say that you saw that earlier in the year, we started out of the gate slow with our sales, put it up a negative quarter that we were able to rebound in the second quarter. coming up with about a 22% increase.

是的。謝謝你的提問。謝謝你的祝賀。我對這個機會感到很興奮。並期待與這裡的同事合作，推動未來的影響力。我想說的是，你在今年早些時候看到，我們的銷售一開始就緩慢，我們在第二季度能夠反彈，這是一個負季度。預計增幅約 22%。

And then for this quarter, really exceeded what I expect at a 5.5% increase. And it's really accumulating from a couple of things. Max and Dan both mentioned, the plants business. What that means from my perspective, till is we have an opportunity right now in a strong product base to compete in the jumbo case market.

這個季度的成長確實超出了我的預期，成長了 5.5%。它確實是由幾件事累積起來的。馬克斯和丹都提到了植物業務。從我的角度來看，這意味著我們現在有機會在強大的產品基礎上參與大箱市場的競爭。

Generally, we're talking about employer groups with more than 5,000 employees. And then we're also talking about the relationships that we forged with the brokers in that space. At the same time, though, we continue to focus on building our career field force channel bank. And what you're seeing, though, is in that first quarter, slow movement on recruitment. We were able to come back with a 10% increase in recruiting.

一般來說，我們談論的是擁有超過 5,000 名員工的雇主團體。然後我們也談論我們與該領域的經紀人建立的關係。但同時，我們繼續專注於建立我們的職業領域力量管道庫。不過，你所看到的是，第一季招募工作進展緩慢。我們的招募量增加了 10%。

And I'm pleased, again, this quarter, we were able to come up with a positive increase in recruiting. So therefore, I will tell you that there are some economics of things happening around us, but it's all about getting and building up our field and making sure we've got talented recruits that become veterans. Our pipeline is stronger this year and will have strong. Our goal is to convert them into average week of producer.

我再次感到高興的是，本季我們能夠在招募方面實現積極成長。因此，我會告訴你，我們周圍發生的事情有一些經濟因素，但這都是為了獲得和建立我們的領域，並確保我們有才華橫溢的新兵成為退伍軍人。今年我們的管道更加強勁，並且將會強勁。我們的目標是將它們轉化為生產者的平均每週生產量。

So in that environment, we're going to continue to play in the small case market, make sure we for its broker relationship and then continue to build reputation up in that larger case space. And I would think that we continue to see consistency in the US like you're saying.

因此，在這種環境下，我們將繼續涉足小型案件市場，確保我們的經紀人關係，然後繼續在更大的案件領域建立聲譽。我認為我們將繼續看到美國的一致性，就像你所說的那樣。

Nick Annitto from Wells Fargo.

來自富國銀行的尼克安尼托。

Just on the US, can you touch a little bit on persistency and what's driving the strength there, assuming it's just some sort of mix?

就美國而言，您能否談談持久性以及驅動其力量的因素（假設這只是某種混合）？

Yes. Let me start again. This is Virgil, and let me start with the dimension of Max mentioned that earlier. Mix does (inaudible). So as we continue to scale up our life and absence and disability business that we brought on board, it does start now to influence overall. But I would say if you kind of go back and just look at our original individual business, we are also seeing some improvement there.

是的。讓我重新開始吧。我是維吉爾，讓我從前面提到的麥克斯的維度開始。混合確實（聽不清楚）。因此，隨著我們繼續擴大我們引入的壽險、缺勤和殘疾業務，它現在確實開始對整體產生影響。但我想說，如果你回頭看看我們原來的個體業務，我們也看到了一些改進。

That is driven by some intentional efforts. So some of the things we're doing, I mentioned earlier, is making sure we focus on those products that have a higher persistency. We started in this business known with the reputation of a cancer insurance company. Cancer insurance is still extremely important to us. We continue to push on that product and have success.

這是由一些有意的努力所推動的。因此，我之前提到過，我們正在做的一些事情是確保我們專注於那些具有更高持久性的產品。我們開始從事這項以癌症保險公司的聲譽而聞名的業務。癌症保險對我們來說仍然極為重要。我們繼續推動該產品並取得了成功。

And as Dan would say, cancer is a disease of age. Therefore, people are more likely to keep it once they have it, and we absolutely see that in our numbers. I would also tell you though that we're also doing intentional efforts, and this is why you're seeing some of the movement in the benefit ratio. We continue to drive our wellness benefits.

正如丹所說，癌症是一種年齡疾病。因此，人們一旦擁有它就更有可能保留它，我們絕對從我們的數據中看到了這一點。我還要告訴你，我們也在做有意識的努力，這就是為什麼你會看到福利比率發生一些變化。我們繼續推動我們的健康福利。

We've actually made some increases on what we pay out on some of our policies. We've also increased the benefit though, on things like our policy group demonstrating though adding additional benefit and value for those consumers. As long as we can demonstrate consumer value, we have a likelihood of building that loyalty we're going to keep the products -- we want to continue those things. And we do think that it's having to influence our persistency along with the mix that you mentioned.

實際上，我們對某些保單的支付金額有所增加。不過，我們也增加了福利，例如我們的政策小組展示了為這些消費者增加額外的福利和價值。只要我們能夠展示消費者價值，我們就有可能建立起我們將保留產品的忠誠度——我們希望繼續這些事情。我們確實認為它必須影響我們的堅持以及你提到的混合。

Alex Scott from Barclays. .

來自巴克萊銀行的亞歷克斯·斯科特。。

This is [Jack Trivison ] on for Alex. So I appreciate all the color around sales initiatives in Japan. But do you mind talking more about the competitive environment you're seeing over there and specifically in third sector products. .

這是亞歷克斯的[傑克·特里維森]。所以我很欣賞日本銷售活動的所有色彩。但是您介意多談論您在那裡看到的競爭環境，特別是在第三部門產品方面。。

(Interpreted) Okay. This is Yoshizumi once again. I will be answering your questions. And when you talk about third sector, it's basically about medical insurance. And as you may know, the competition continues to be very severe. So the situation where one company launched their product and then another company will launch a product, and that situation has not changed. So in order for us to survive in this competitive environment, what we need to do is, first of all, to have some uniqueness.

（翻譯）好的。這又是吉住。我將回答您的問題。當你談論第三部門時，基本上就是醫療保險。如您所知，競爭仍然非常激烈。因此，一家公司推出產品，然後另一家公司推出產品的情況並沒有改變。所以我們要想在這個競爭的環境中生存下去，我們首先要做的就是要有一些獨特性。

And also the flexibility that would serve customers' needs. An easy-to-understand feature. These would be the features that would be needed in a product. And then on top of that, we would need a distribution channel to sell this kind of product. And Aflac now currently has this new medical feature called monthly coverage, which is very reasonable and which is very well received by the market. And this product also has a very flexible features, too. So because of these products, uniqueness as well as the flexibility, this product is attracting a lot of attention in the market.

還有滿足客戶需求的靈活性。一個易於理解的功能。這些將是產品所需的功能。最重要的是，我們需要一個分銷管道來銷售此類產品。而Aflac目前有這個新的醫療功能，叫做月保，非常合理，深受市場歡迎。而且這款產品還具有非常靈活的特性。因此，由於這些產品的獨特性以及靈活性，該產品在市場上吸引了許多關注。

And talking about our distribution channel, which is really a strength of ours is that there are agencies that only sell Aflac products and they're very loyal to our products. And at the same time, we also register our products with large nonexclusive agencies that have large volume of young and Middle East customers. And we firmly believe that we can win in the competition by increasing our sales through these channels.

說到我們的分銷管道，這確實是我們的優勢，因為有些代理商只銷售 Aflac 產品，而且他們對我們的產品非常忠誠。同時，我們也向擁有大量年輕和中東客戶的大型非獨家代理商註冊我們的產品。我們堅信，透過這些管道增加銷量，我們可以在競爭中獲勝。

And now let me talk about cancer. we have 15 years of history with cancer insurance. So that intelligence that we've gathered. And the expertise that we have is something that no other company has.And we also have a relationship with the government politics and also other areas of businesses. And this network is not something that any other company has.

現在讓我談談癌症。我們擁有 15 年的癌症保險歷史。所以我們收集到的情報。我們擁有的專業知識是其他公司所不具備的。而這個網路是其他公司都沒有的。

And as a very big channel, we also have Japan Post.Well, Japan Post sales Aflac Cancer Insurance. And Japan Post does not sell any other companies cancer insurance. And I do firmly believe that we can have a very good future and have had expectation for the future in both cancer and medical by fully leveraging this third sector power, and we truly become number 1 or we are the number 1 third sector company.

作為一個非常大的管道，我們還有日本郵政。而且日本郵政不向任何其他公司銷售癌症保險。我堅信，透過充分利用這個第三部門的力量，我們可以在癌症和醫療領域擁有非常好的未來，並且對未來充滿期待，我們真正成為第一，或者我們是第三部門第一的公司。

We will constantly be looking at the market. And we'll be launching products to meet the needs and respond to the customers' needs. And of course, develop and grow our distribution channel. And win against our competitors. And that is my thinking.

我們將不斷關注市場。我們將推出滿足需求並回應客戶需求的產品。當然，也要發展壯大我們的通路。並戰勝我們的競爭對手。這就是我的想法。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to David Young for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給大衛楊（David Young）發表閉幕詞。

Thank you all for joining us today. We hope you'll join us on December 3 at our financial analyst briefing. If you have any questions, please follow up with Investor & Rating Agency Relations, and we appreciate it. Have a good day.

感謝大家今天加入我們。我們希望您能參加 12 月 3 日舉行的金融分析師簡報會。如果您有任何疑問，請聯絡投資者和評級機構關係部，我們將不勝感激。祝你有美好的一天。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。

Portions of this transcript that are marked (interpreted) were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call. The interpreter was provided by the company sponsoring this event

此文字記錄中標記（翻譯）的部分是由現場通話中的口譯員說出的。翻譯由本次活動贊助公司提供