Tokyo Will Be Back Within a Month or So: Aflac CEO

AFLAC Inc. (AFL) CEO Dan Amos spoke with FBN’s Connell McShane and Dagen McDowell about his recent visit to Japan and the economic impact of the disaster. Amos said he believes Tokyo is operating at about “90 percent” and fortunately all of the company’s employees are safe and they have “found no fatalities at this point.” He goes on to say that while he expects the company will receive “quite a few claims” being that they insure “one out of four” in Japan, he expects Aflac will “still attain our earnings per share growth.” Excerpts from the interview can be found below, courtesy of Fox Business Network.

On the state of the devastation in Japan:
“Tokyo is 90 percent the level it normally is. There is not the panic in the air you might think is there. I would think Tokyo will be back within a month or so.”

On how the disaster in Japan is going to affect their business:
“We are going to have quite a few claims. No something we did not reserve for. Who knows what the number. If you had 24,000 deaths, we insure one out of four, so that would be 6,000 deaths. We have 20 million policies in force, so as a percent its very small and we can handle that. We still expect to still attain our earnings per share growth. If something else goes wrong from a nuclear perspective that’s another story. But right now we will do fine.”

On the safety of Aflac employees in Japan:
“All of our employees are safe. We have about 100,000 sales people who are independent contractors. 90 percent we have been able to reach, we have found no fatalities at this point. Statistically speaking, there will probably be some.”

On firing Gilbert Gottfried, the voice of the Aflac Duck:
“The management team brought it to me. We had to move fast. It sent all the wrong messages when he did that. We just can’t have that. I know he has apologized since and we certainly accept that. We are doing a nationwide search for the Aflac duck spokesperson.”

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