Japan's Yamato Life Insurance goes bankrupt: Official

TOKYO: Japan's Yamato Life Insurance will file for bankruptcy protection, becoming the first Japanese insurer to fail amid the global credit crisis, the financial watchdog said on Friday.

The Tokyo-based company will take necessary legal steps based on insurance law and will seek approval for rehabilitation, the news agency and other media said, quoting informed sources.

The medium-size insurer's debts amount to 269.5 billion yen (2.73 billion dollars), Jiji said.

Telephone calls to Yamato went unanswered, but the company has scheduled a press conference later in the day, Dow Jones Newswires said.