Japan Post Co. Ltd. improperly sold approximately 104,000 Aflac Inc.-issued insurance policies, The Japan Times reported, citing sources close to the matter.
The total number of inappropriately sold policies in Japan is now 287,000. The issue stemmed from Japan Post's failure to update its customer data management system, according to the sources. It will take until October for the problem to be fixed, Japan Post reportedly said.
Japan Post's actions caused customers to be temporarily uninsured or double-charged for a 1-year period that ended in May, the sources said. The Japanese insurer stopped selling its own and third-party life insurance products subsequent to admitting in July that it inappropriately sold about 183,000 policies over the past five years, although it still sells Aflac's cancer insurance product, according to the report.
Regarding the media reports, Aflac said in an 8-K filing that it is making a "rigorous, voluntary review of postal channel sales," consistent with its statements during its second-quarter earnings call. The company's shares are down 5.55% to $48.98 as of U.S. market close on Aug. 21.
In July, Japan Post Insurance Co. Ltd. President Mitsuhiko Uehira apologized for the company's mismanagement of certain insurance policies, Japan Today reported. Japan Post Holdings Co. Ltd. then said it will set up a third-party panel to help revise excessive sales quotas for personnel together with units Japan Post Insurance and Japan Post, The Japan News reported.
Later in July, Aflac rebuffed media reports that Japan Post is close to implementing a temporary suspension of sales of private insurance at post offices following the discovered mismanagement of insurance policies.
