Nippon Life Insurance announced that it would use AI in voting at shareholder meetings and expects to reduce the time required for related work by 540 hours annually. Following a testing period, it began full-scale implementation in September.
Nippon Life disclosed a policy of using AI to organise and identify information supporting proxy voting decisions at shareholder meetings, thereby speeding up and improving the appropriateness of voting decisions through deeper analysis and engagement with companies. Following a testing period, full-scale implementation will begin in September. The use of AI is expected to reduce the time required for related work by 540 hours annually.
Shinichi Kon (今 真一), general manager of the Equities Department at the company, explained that AI would organise information such as notices of convocation for shareholder meetings and identify the basis for decisions, enabling more detailed engagement in reaching voting decisions. The aim is to improve the efficiency of the proxy voting review process.
Nippon Life holds shares in approximately 1,300 Japanese companies, and shareholder meetings tend to be concentrated in June. From July 2025 through June 2026, approximately 13,000 proposals at listed companies were subject to proxy voting, of which approximately 600 were in violation of the guidelines.
He indicated that approximately 1 hour of work could be saved per proposal, saying this would lead to significant efficiency gains during the shareholder meeting season. The time saved would be devoted to more detailed engagement, allowing the company to deepen its voting decisions.