Tokyo - Yamato Life Insurance Co became the first Japanese financial firm Friday to fail due to losses linked to the global financial crisis, a media report said.

The medium-sized firm filed for bankruptcy protection Friday in Tokyo, reported Kyodo news agency.

The insurance firm incurred debts of 269.5 billion yen (2.68 billion dollars) from losses from investments in subprime mortgages-related bonds and other securities as their prices plunged amid the US financial crisis, the officials said.

Yamato, which became the first Japanese life insurance company to fail since 2001, had 170,000 individual insurance contracts as of March 31 and 283.1 billion yen in assets with 1,011 employees. (dpa)