A medium-sized Japanese insurance company said it has gone bankrupt, becoming the first Japanese financial company to collapse on the fallout from the U.S. credit crisis.

Yamato Life Insurance Co. President Takeo Nakazono said he was deeply sorry.

Most Japanese banking and other institutions have averted the serious damage of their U.S. and European counterparts from the crisis.

Yamato is a medium-size insurer with about 1,000 employees and about 1 trillion yen (US$10 billion) in individual policy accounts.

So far, it appears to be a relatively unusual case for Japan.

Nakazono said the company fell $111 million in the red because of the unusually swift and drastic fall in stock prices stemming from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.