Brandes, the US investment adviser, is pressing Mitsui Sumitomo Life Insurance Group to make more efficient use of what it considers excess capital on the Japanese insurer’s balance sheet, and to pay out an additional dividend to shareholders at a maximum cost of Y5.5bn ($55.8m).

The US group, the largest shareholder in MSIG with a 9.46 per cent stake, has written to the insurance group, asking it to pay a one-time dividend of Y40 per share.