Japan FSA to Inspect Meiji Yasuda Life after Scandal of Sales Staff

Jiji Press

6:00 JST, February 22, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s Financial Services Agency plans to conduct an on-site inspection of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. following a fraudulent acquisition of money by a sales staff member of the major life insurer that came to light last year, according to informed sources.

The FSA is expected to inspect Meiji Yasuda’s staff management system. The agency also plans to look into the company’s sales of so-called tax-saving insurance plans, which put emphasis on their tax-saving effects rather than the original intent of insurance, the sources said Monday.

In June last year, Meiji Yasuda said a sales staff member in her 70s who worked at the life insurer’s branch office in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward fraudulently acquired a total of some ¥20 million from clients.

In response to a series of money-swindling scandals involving sales staff of Japanese life insurers, the Life Insurance Association of Japan on Friday released new guidelines for enhancing sales staff compliance.