FWD Group Holdings Limited (“FWD Group” or “FWD”) today announced the appointment of Tsuyoshi Ijichi, as Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, FWD Japan, effective 14 January 2025.

Ijichi-san brings to FWD over 25 years of broad financial services experience in Japan, spanning life insurance, corporate and retail banking, and consumer finance. Most recently, Ijichi-san was Director, Representative Statutory Executive Officer and Deputy President of MetLife Insurance K.K in Japan.

Huynh Thanh Phong, Chief Executive Officer of FWD Group, said “We’re delighted to welcome Ijichi-san to drive our next phase of growth in Japan. Our Japan business remains incredibly important to FWD. With Ijichi-san’s leadership, I’m confident we’ll further scale our Japan business by changing the way people feel about insurance.”

“I’d also like to thank Hideki Yamagishi for his many accomplishments leading our Japan business over the last four years and wish him well as he transitions to an advisory role. With an increased focus on capital efficiency, as well as our successful individual protection strategy, FWD Japan is perfectly poised to introduce more customer-led propositions in future,” added Huynh Thanh Phong.

Prior to his 10 years at MetLife Japan, Ijichi-san held various leadership positions at General Electric Company and SanwaBank Ltd (now Mitsubishi UFJ bank).

Tsuyoshi Ijichi, Incoming Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, FWD Japan, said: “I’m very excited to be joining FWD in Japan at a key inflection point in its history. FWD is well positioned for growth, with a customer-led and digitally enabled approach to its protection and savings focused strategy.”

FWD has operated in Japan since 2017 and utilises a distribution network of independent financial advisors and e-commerce channels for its business. In 2024, FWD Japan passed more than two million in force insurance policies. The company ranked number one in the income protection life insurance category and number two in the cancer insurance product category in 2024, according to TokumaShoten.

About FWD Group

FWD Group is a pan-Asian life and health insurance business with more than 12 million customers across 10 markets, including some of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world. The company was established in 2013 and is focused on changing the way people feel about insurance. FWD’s customer-led and digitally enabled approach aims to deliver innovative propositions, easy-to-understand products and a simpler insurance experience.

For more information, please visit www.fwd.com