Sompo Japan Insurance Inc revealed on Tuesday that it has been directed by the Financial Services Agency (FSA) to provide reports on incidents where employees on loan to insurance agencies improperly disclosed policyholder information to the nonlife insurer.
According to Nippon’s report, this directive from the FSA is based on the insurance business law.
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co also reported receiving a similar order from the FSA on the same day.
Additionally, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Co were found to have been issued comparable directives.
Sompo Japan stated that its employees seconded to nine insurance agencies leaked information regarding clients from other insurers to Sompo Japan. Specifically, approximately 2,700 sets of policyholder data were leaked from Tokyo-based Total Insurance Service Ltd to Sompo Japan.
Moreover, data on 1,518 fire insurance policyholders with loans for investment condominiums were leaked from Yokohama-based insurance agency Hoei Co.
In other news from the Japanese insurance industry, Tokio Marine Holdings recently reported a potential leak of personal data affecting around 63,200 policyholders. This issue was discovered following a ransomware attack on a server managed by an outsourced accounting firm.
The entities under Tokio Marine potentially affected by this data breach include:
The compromised information comprises names, addresses, and insurance policy numbers. To date, there have been no reported instances of unauthorized use of this data.
Focusing on Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co, industry sources claimed that the company is one of Japan’s four leading non-life insurers planning to increase fire insurance premiums by approximately 10% nationwide starting in October.
This planned hike is in response to higher payouts for natural disasters and the increasing costs associated with home repairs.
The other insurers expected to implement similar rate increases are:
Last year, the FSA approved a proposal to raise reference rates for fire insurance by an average of 13%, which insurers utilise to determine premiums.
