Japan Post Co. allegedly committed irregularities in selling around 104,000 insurance policies from US-based insurer Aflac’s Japanese arm, potentially bringing the number of policies improperly sold by the postal and insurance company to 287,000.
The revelation was put forward in a report by Kyodo, citing sources close to the matter.
The formerly state-owned company has been under fire for weeks after it emerged that it was double-charging customers for insurance premiums and other irregularities in policies sold through its post office network. These were first pinned on employees desperate to meet tough sales quotas, but the company is also blaming its outdated customer data management system, the sources said. Japan Post estimated that it would take until October to fix its various problems, amid regulatory pressure.
Due to the mishandling of the Aflac policies, the sources revealed that affected customers became temporarily uninsured and/or were double charged for the year ended May 2019.
In July, Japan Post stopped the sales of insurance products through its post offices after it admitted to mishandling around 183,000 policies over the past five years, massively disadvantaging its customers.
Aflac has partnered with Japan Post since 2013, with the latter investing in the former in late 2018, gaining a 7% stake for around US$2.4 billion.
