Japanese life insurers continue to experience a horror stretch of crippling losses, with 12^th largest Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance falling to American giant AIG.

It’s the fifth foreign takeover of a failed Japanese insurer. Like most of the industry, Chiyoda has struggled to overcome falling premiums, poor investment returns and falling equity prices. It has also been affected by the pledges of high fixed-yield payments to policyholders negotiated in the boom days of 10 years ago.

Chiyoda collapsed last year with debts of $US25.1 billion.