Following its admission of mismanagement of over 90,000 policies from its insurance arm, Japan’s postal operator has confirmed 22 cases of forgery and other illegal practices in selling insurance policies.
According to a report by The Mainichi, Japan Post Co. has reported the cases to the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the country’s financial watchdog.
One of the suspected motives behind the illegal sales practices are excessively high sales quotas expected from postal workers.
The anomalies, which came to light earlier this month, have allegedly been ongoing for several months. These led to Japan Post Co. suspending marketing activities of insurance products. Furthermore, other insurers that have been selling products through the postal network have started conducting their own investigations.
Kazumasa Iwata, chairman of the government's Postal Privatization Committee, said in a July 29 news conference that Japan Post Holdings Co., the parent company of Japan Post and Japan Post Insurance, has known about the sales irregularities since April – when it began selling shares in Japan Post Insurance.
In an internal document issued in April, Japan Post warned employees about illegal and unethical sales practices. In one case, a section chief filled out an application form under a customer’s name without their consent. The customer later received an insurance policy certificate for a product they never purchased, and reported it to the post operator.
Another press conference has been scheduled on July 31, the report said, where company heads will lay out their responses to the illegal activities.
