Japan Post’s logo is seen at its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
December 27, 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s financial regulator on Friday ordered two units of Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd <6178.T> to halt new sales of insurance products for three months, after they were found to have improperly sold thousands of policies, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Japan Post Insurance Co Ltd <7181.T>, Japan Post and parent Japan Post Holdings said this month the number of improper sales cases had reached 12,836, of which 670 involved violations of the law or internal rules. [nL4N28S1K8]
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) also issued a business improvement order to the three companies, NHK reported.
An official at the Financial Services Agency said it had not made any announcement. A spokesman at Japan Post Holdings said he has not heard anything from the authority.
Japan Post Insurance in August said it had sold about 183,000 policies over five years through fiscal 2018 that may have been disadvantageous to holders.
A committee set up to investigate the matter said last week it had looked over about 82% of those policies and it would submit an additional report in March.
The three companies have said that some of the cases that fell foul of the law involved false explanations provided to customers.
Asked at a press conference last week whether he intended to resign, Japan Post Holdings Chief Executive Masatsugu Nagato said he would answer at an “appropriate time”.
Revelations of the misconduct cast a shadow over the government’s plan to sell $10 billion worth of its shares in Japan Post Holdings to pay for reconstruction in areas hit by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
(Reporting by Takashi Umekawa; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
