NKSJ Holdings Selected for Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Sept. 29, 2011 - PRLog -- NKSJ Holdings, Inc. (hereafter “NKSJHD”)  would like to announce that it has been selected for inclusion in the DJSI World index of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (hereafter “DJSI”), the world’s first and most  widely used family of global sustainability benchmarks, on September 8, 2011.

NKSJHD has now been selected a member of the index for two consecutive years since the company was founded and twelve consecutive  years since the subsidiary company Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. has been included.  

1. About the DJSI

The DJSI is a stock index developed in 1999 jointly by Swiss asset management advisor Sustainable Asset Management AG (hereafter “SAM”) and Dow Jones & Company of the United States. SAM assesses corporate sustainability according to three dimensions, the economic, environmental and social criteria, and selects companies undertaking progressive and forward-looking initiatives for inclusion in the DJSI (World/Europe/North America/Asia Pacific/Korea). Sixty asset managers have concluded license contracts with SAM to use the DJSI as a benchmark for measuring the extent of sustainability initiatives carried out by companies. The total assets managed amount to US$8 billion. The DJSI is adopted for financial products in 16 countries.

2. Fiscal 2011 Assessment Results

(1) General Overview
SAM sent surveys to the 2,500 largest companies listed in the Dow Jones Global Index (DJGI: index used by institutional investors to evaluate the asset management results of international investments) developed by Dow Jones & Company, and for inclusion in the DJSI World, selected 342 companies (16 companies from the insurance sector) that carry out outstanding sustainability performances. Twenty-five Japanese companies, including NKSJHD, were selected for inclusion (2 companies
from the insurance sector).

(2) Assessment of NKSJHD
The effect of the merger of subsidiary company Sompo Japan  Insurance Inc. and NIPPONKOA Insurance Co., Ltd., NKSJHD significantly had also lead to raise its score in the environmental dimension in particular. In the social dimension, NKSJHD for two consecutive years, attained  the highest score among the 16 insurance companies selected for inclusion. As a result, NKSJHD’s overall score improved from last year and approached the highest score in the industry.