Aflac Inc. subsidiary Aflac Japan disclosed the results of a review of postal channel sales following reports that Japan Post Co. Ltd. improperly sold about 104,000 Aflac-issued insurance policies, resulting in customers being temporarily uninsured or double-charged.
The review found 196,355 lapsed and reissued policies among the more than 1.2 million new policies examined. The review found 70 cases of lapsed and reissued policies for which the coverage of old and new policies were the same, but not aligned with customer intent. Another 65 cases were identified for which customer intent could not be confirmed.
Aflac Japan said it is "taking good-faith measures" to guarantee that its services are aligned with customer intent, which may include reinstatement of old policies. The company said the review confirmed that internal controls for cancer insurance solicitation by Japan Post and Japan Post Insurance Co. Ltd. is robust, but conceded that it will need to improve the framework.
In a Sept. 30 news conference, Japan Post Holdings Co. Ltd. CEO Masatsugu Nagato bowed in apology and promised to bring back public trust after the scandal, The Japan Times reported.
Japan Post and Japan Post Insurance, whose insurance sales activities have been suspended since mid-July, are eyeing a further delay in their insurance sales activities until January 2020, Jiji Press recently reported.
