NEWS RELEASE. R&I Affirms Ratings, Stable: 4 Major Life Insurers. Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I) has announced the following:

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1 Mar 04, 2016 R&I Affirms Ratings, : 4 Major Life Insurers Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I) has announced the following: Nippon Life Insurance Co. : AA, Affirmed Rating Outlook: Commercial Paper: a-1+, Affirmed Mitsui Life Insurance Co., Ltd. : Rating Outlook: Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. : Rating Outlook: The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., Ltd. : Rating Outlook: Commercial Paper: a-1+, Affirmed The Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance Co., Ltd. : Rating Outlook: Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. : Rating Outlook: Medicare Life Insurance Co., Ltd. : Rating Outlook: RATIONALE: Following its rating reviews, R&I has affirmed the ratings for Nippon Life Insurance Co. and its subsidiary Mitsui Life Insurance Co., Ltd., Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co., The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary The Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. and its subsidiary Medicare Life Insurance Co., Ltd. The Rating Outlooks are all. The major life insurers continue to have high investment risk such as equity risk and asset-liability management (ALM) risk, though the degree of the risk varies. Their risk resilience changes easily depending on fluctuations in stock prices and interest rates. Since the Bank of Japan announced in January 2016 that it will introduce negative interest rates, interest rates in Japan have fallen further, and stock prices have shown very volatile movements. The impact on the insurers' risk resilience cannot be ignored. That said, each company has strengthened their capital bases through accumulation of retained earnings in the past few years. Even with the influence of a string of large acquisitions in FY2015 (the year ending March 2016) taken into consideration, their risk resilience is at

2 a comfortable level for respective ratings. In response to lower interest rates, some insurers have started to move in the direction of premium increases and sales controls/termination, especially for savings products. However, the impact such moves have on R&I's evaluation on the franchise and earning capacity of each insurance group is not significant. Since the profitability of savings products is low and their sales volume fluctuates depending on the stance of sales channels such as banks, R&I has not considered them as a stable source of earnings. The major life insurers mainly sell protection-oriented products from which they can ensure ample mortality/morbidity margins. Of particular note is that annualized premiums (ANP) from highly profitable third-sector policies in force are growing, albeit modestly. They will likely achieve earnings commensurate with their respective ratings. They have been able to maintain a stable franchise. Because each group has made large acquisitions overseas in the past several years, the ratio of overseas earnings is rising. Nevertheless, the majority of their earnings bases still consists of domestic life insurance operations. In domestic bank and agency channels, sales are expected to grow over the medium to long term, but price competition is fierce and sales fluctuate more easily. R&I therefore continues to look closely at insurers' sales representative channels in evaluating their franchises. The pending issue of mass hiring and a high turnover of sales representatives is improving gradually, thanks partly to the adoption of longer training periods. As a result of focusing on after sales follow-up for their policies, each insurer is seeing a downward trend in surrender and lapse rates, and their earnings stability is increasing. Although the domestic death coverage market is expected to keep shrinking at a moderate pace, there is a good possibility, in R&I's view, that they will maintain a certain size of customer base by providing third-sector products such as medical and nursing care insurance and annuity insurance according to changes in existing customers' life stages. Each insurer is steadily advancing their frameworks for enterprise risk management (ERM), though the degree of penetration varies. Their management is increasing utilization of ERM, aiming to reduce risks and increase capital, with economic value-based financial soundness as a management goal. R&I believes that it will be important for them to produce tangible results, such as lower investment risk and higher returns relative to risks, through advanced frameworks for ERM. [Evaluations for Individual Companies] Nippon Life Insurance Co. Mitsui Life Insurance Co., Ltd. As a comprehensive insurance group, Nippon Life Insurance Co. (Nippon Life) provides a wide range of insurance products and other services in its asset management and overseas insurance businesses, in addition to the domestic life insurance business. The insurer has the largest share of the domestic life insurance market in terms of the amount of policies in force, if Japan Post Insurance Co., Ltd. is excluded. Under the new management plan themed on a company of excellence in "scale" and "quality", Nippon Life aims to expand share in bank and agency channels, where its share is low compared to that in sales representative channels. Furthermore, to achieve target net income for group businesses (excluding Nippon Life) of 30 billion yen by FY2017, the insurer is working to strengthen its group earnings base, as evidenced by the acquisitions of Mitsui Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (Mitsui Life) and the life insurance business of Australia-based MLC Ltd., which were announced in FY2015. Besides ALM risk, Nippon Life's risk profile has very large equity risk. Although retained earnings are accumulating, the insurer's risk resilience is at a level corresponding to the lower end of the AA rating category, in R&I's view, due in part to the susceptibility of risks to changes in the financial and capital markets. In order to maintain the very high AA rating, it is essential for the insurer to increase the level and stability of risk resilience by establishing a framework for economic value-based ERM, which is being promoted, as well as a risk profile with low market risk. Mitsui Life, which became a subsidiary of Nippon Life in December 2015, will maintain an independent structure for the foreseeable future, especially on the sales front. At the same time, the insurer plans to pursue synergies with the parent company through mutual provision of products and

3 sharing of sales channels, among others. Mitsui Life's rating is one notch below that for Nippon Life, reflecting its high importance in the Nippon Life group's strategy. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. With more than 6 million policyholders, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. ranks first in the industry in terms of the amount of group insurance in force. Thanks to a continuous fall in the surrender and lapse rates and expansion in sales of third-sector products, ANP from policies in force keep growing. Although the insurer has made only minor investments in overseas insurance businesses, it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. of the U.S. in FY2015. After the completion of the acquisition, contributions from the overseas business are expected to rise to approximately 13% of total premium income. The insurer's risk resilience will decline because of the acquisition, but remains at a level commensurate with the AA rating category. Given that its risk profile has high equity and ALM risks, however, attention should be paid to the susceptibility of risks to changes in the financial and capital markets. R&I will keep an eye on whether the insurer is able to manage risks appropriately based on economic value-based ERM. The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., Ltd. The Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance Co., Ltd. The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., Ltd. is a major life insurer that has the second largest customer base in Japan. It reorganized itself into a stock company and went public in As part of efforts to accelerate restructuring of its business model, the insurer is expanding bancassurance and agency service businesses at The Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance Co., Ltd. and The Neo First Life Insurance Co., Ltd. It is also making aggressive investments in growth markets, including expansion of overseas insurance business through acquisitions. High profit contributions from the overseas life insurance business show that earnings are well decentralized and diversified. Dai-ichi Life Insurance's equity and ALM risks are still high, though much lower than before. Its risk resilience is kept commensurate with the rating, but susceptible to changes in the financial and capital markets. The possibility of a rating upgrade will likely increase if the insurer accumulates retained earnings, reduces investment risk and enhances the level and stability of risk resilience, based on ERM, which is being promoted at domestic life insurers. Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance is a consolidated subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Insurance. As a bancassurance company, it commenced operation in Because of its specialization in savings products such as individual annuity insurance, profitability is modest in the current low interest rate environment. Nevertheless, the insurer works to secure earnings by diversifying its product lineup, particularly with foreign currency-dominated products. Since insurance and annuity sales operations through financial institutions are highly important, it is very strongly integrated with the group. The rating for the subsidiary is therefore the same as that for Dai-ichi Life Insurance. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Medicare Life Insurance Co., Ltd. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. is a main member of the Sumitomo Group. It is one of the four major life insurers in Japan, with approximately 7 million policyholders. In addition to death coverage, the insurer has long focused on highly profitable third-sector products such as nursing care and medical insurance. The insurer's equity risk accounts for a small proportion of its risk profile compared to the other major life insurers'. In contrast, its ALM risk remains large. Although Sumitomo Life Insurance has made only minor investments in overseas insurance business, it made Symetra Financial Corp. of the U.S. a wholly-owned subsidiary in FY2015. Premium income from overseas operations is expected to rise to about 14% of the Sumitomo Life group's total. The insurer's risk resilience declined due to this acquisition, but is maintained at a level corresponding to the rating. The possibility of a rating upgrade will likely increase if the insurer accumulates retained earnings and enhances the level and stability of risk resilience. Medicare Life Insurance Co., Ltd. became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Life

4 Insurance in July It provides third-sector products through insurance outlets and other agencies. Although its contribution to the group's policies in force and profits is limited at present, the insurer is extremely important for the Sumitomo Life group, which is pushing ahead with a "multi-channel, multi-product" strategy. The rating for the subsidiary is therefore the same as that for Sumitomo Life Insurance. The primary rating methodologies applied to this rating are provided at "R&I's Basic Methodology for Corporate Credit Ratings", "Shared Rating Approach for Financial Institutions, etc.", "Life Insurance", "R&I's Analytical Approach to Financial Groups", "R&I's Analytical Approach to Regulatory Capital Instruments and Financial Institutions, etc." and "Evaluation of Equity Credit Attributes of Hybrid Securities and Rating Perspectives". The methodologies are available at the web site listed below, together with other rating methodologies that are taken into consideration when assigning the rating. R&I RATINGS: Nippon Life Insurance Co. AA, Affirmed (redemption date: Aug 05, 2011 Aug 03, 2017 JPY 100,000 August 3, 2017) (redemption date: Aug 03, 2012 Aug 01, 2018 JPY 50,000 August 1, 2018) (redemption date: Aug 05, 2015 Aug 01, 2019 JPY 50,000 August 1, 2019) Unsec. Sub. Bonds No.1 Issue Date Maturity Date Issue Amount (mn) Apr 30, 2015 Apr 30, 2045 JPY 75,000 Commercial Paper ISSUE LIMIT (mn): JPY 300,000 SUPPORT: Unsecured a-1+, Affirmed

5 Mitsui Life Insurance Co., Ltd. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. (redemption date: Aug 05, 2011 Aug 02, 2016 JPY 50,000 August 2, 2016) (redemption date: Aug 09, 2012 Aug 04, 2017 JPY 100,000 August 4, 2017) (redemption date: Aug 08, 2013 Aug 03, 2018 JPY 50,000 August 3, 2018) (redemption date: Aug 07, 2014 Aug 02, 2019 JPY 60,000 August 2, 2019) The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (Sec. Code: 8750) Commercial Paper ISSUE LIMIT (mn): JPY 100,000 SUPPORT: Unsecured a-1+, Affirmed The Dai-ichi Frontier Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

6 Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. (redemption date: Aug 09, 2011 Aug 04, 2016 JPY 30,000 August 4, 2016) A, Affirmed (redemption date: Aug 08, 2012 Aug 03, 2018 JPY 50,000 August 3, 2018) A, Affirmed Unsec. Sub. Bonds No.1 Issue Date Maturity Date Issue Amount (mn) Nov 20, 2014 Nov 20, 2074 JPY 50,000 A-, Affirmed Medicare Life Insurance Co., Ltd.