Aflac Incorporated's board of directors today authorized the purchase of up to 40 million shares of its common stock. This authorization is in addition to the 16.9 million shares that remained under a previous authorization as of September 30, 2013, bringing the total number of shares available for purchase to approximately 56.9 million. The company anticipates that the repurchase of shares will be conducted from time to time in open market or negotiated transactions, depending on market conditions.

Commenting on the news, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel P. Amos stated: "I am very pleased with today's action by our board of directors. Whether we're talking about our operations inJapan or the U.S., as an insurance company, our primary mission is to fulfill our obligations to our policyholders. At the same time, we are listening to our shareholders and understand the importance of capital deployment. In our third quarter of 2013 earnings release, we announced a 5.7% increase in the quarterly cash dividend, which is payable on December 2, 2013, to shareholders of record at the close of trading on November 20, 2013. We also increased our expected share repurchase to $800 million of our shares in 2013 and $800 million to $1 billion of our shares in 2014."