NIPPON LIFE REVAMPS ADMINSITRATION IN WAKE OF FALSE DOCUMENTATION SCANDAL

Japan-based life insurer Nippon Life is to increase its administration staff by 200 in reaction to the recent wave of policy cancellations caused by the uncovering of false documentation at the company. The 200 staff will be based in a newly constructed building at Nippon Life’s Osaka headquarters, due to be completed in April 2009, and will be charged with the responsibility of sifting through all policy documentation and carrying out additional administrative work. The 200 employees have been gathered from the administrative teams of other branches. The move has been prompted by an order from the Financial Services Agency for Nippon Life to upgrade its processes following the news that a rogue employee in charge of insurance claims had forged documents in order to cancel 105 insurance policies. The company put this down to a shortage of manpower and structural problems in the administrative departments of the company. Nippon Life has since paid out 200m yuan to 28 policyholders whose contracts were improperly cancelled.