Japan Post Insurance misconduct may have hit 60,000 more customers

Hiroya Masuda, president and chief executive officer of Japan Post Holdings Co., arrives for a news conference in Tokyo on Jan. 9. | BLOOMBERG

JIJI

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Jan 30, 2020

Improper sales practices for Japan Post Insurance Co. products may have disadvantaged 60,000 more customers than previously known, sources have said.

In August, the Japan Post Holdings Co. group started to investigate 183,000 Kampo-brand insurance contracts involving 156,000 customers who had possibly been affected by questionable sales practices — such as having policyholders make double payments of premiums when switching from one contract to another.

The group will additionally look at the new suspected cases, the sources said Wednesday. The number of contracts subject to the additional probe may reach around 200,000, the sources added.

The group is set to submit business improvement plans related to the sales irregularities to the Financial Services Agency and the internal affairs ministry on Friday. At a news conference later Friday, Japan Post Holdings President Hiroya Masuda is expected to give an explanation about details of the widened investigation, the sources said.

The additional survey will cover cases such as those in which policyholders had to pay massive sums in premiums as a result of being forced to sign multiple insurance contracts, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, Japan Post Co., the mail service unit of Japan Post Holdings, will continue to refrain from marketing activities at post offices nationwide for investment trust funds commissioned by Japan Post Bank, another subsidiary, until the end of March, as the group will place priority on the in-house investigation into the issue of inappropriate insurance sales practices, the sources said.