JAPAN REGULATOR SAYS MEIJI YASUDA UNIT FORGED SIGNATURES

The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) has accused locally based assurer Meiji Yasuda Life’s sales unit of paying kickbacks to corporate customers that bought employee policies, and of forging customer signatures. The assurer received a business suspension order from the FSA on Friday over past failures to pay claims. The forging allegation relates to a 1999 deal with a foreign-owned securities brokerage, reported Asia Pulse . Employees’ signatures were allegedly forged to create documents, while ¥270m was said by the FSA to have been paid back to the purchasing company. The FSA claimed that Meiji Life had adopted a similar strategy with another company in 1997. The FSA added that Meiji Life had failed to address the situation, even though it was aware of the practices. Meanwhile, rating agency Fitch has downgraded its credit rating for Meiji Yasuda to single A from single A plus, noting that suspension of the assurer from selling personal policies came at a time that was “traditionally a strong month for new policy sales in Japan”. Fitch said that the suspension order “could have a material impact on Meiji Yasuda Life’s performance in the current fiscal year ending March 2006”.