Leaders of three major Japanese nonlife insurers apologized at their respective general shareholders meetings Monday over scandals rocking the industry.
The three insurers — Sompo Holdings, Tokio Marine Holdings and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings — have been affected by incidents such as a fraudulent insurance claims scandal involving used car dealer Bigmotor and collusion to rig premiums for corporate clients.
At the general meeting of Sompo Holdings, which saw its previous leadership step down at the end of March to take responsibility for the Bigmotor scandal, shareholders voted on the appointments of 13 board directors including President Mikio Okumura.
“Outside board members are also accountable for scandals,” a shareholder in his 70s said. “I want to stick to this issue.”
President Shinichiro Funabiki of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, a unit of MS&AD Insurance, apologized at the parent’s general meeting for the premium-fixing scandal, promising to improve business operations. He also declared his commitment to preventing a similar incident from occurring.
But one shareholder said, “The recurrence prevention measure is in name only, and I do not believe it will resolve the issue.”
Critics say that so-called strategic shareholdings including cross-held shares, which companies hold in clients to maintain good relations, have helped create an environment that led to fraudulent actions.
“We will eliminate our strategic shareholdings in six years,” Funabiki told shareholders.