JAPAN INSURERS’ NON-PAYMENTS TOTAL RISES TO ¥35BN

Japan’s non-life insurers failed to pay about ¥35bn in benefits to policyholders between April 2002 and June 2005, according to an Asahi Shimbun report, citing a Financial Services Agency (FSA) investigation into non-payments by 26 of Japan’s 48 insurers. The figure was compiled by the FSA from information supplied by the insurers. The regulator had ordered the internal surveys in November, after concluding that the voluntary surveys undertaken by insurers had not been sufficiently diligent. The latest investigations found about 500,000 cases, half as many again as were previously discovered as a result of a survey in September 2005. The sum of mispayments and underpayments was nearly twice as high. The FSA compiled the figures on Friday after receiving the results of the survey conducted by Fuji Fire & Marine, the last of the 26 insurers involved in this investigation. The figures do not include life or so-called third-sector medical and health policies.