The life insurance industry in Japan is facing scrutiny due to a troubling pattern of information leakage, with employees reportedly extracting confidential data from financial institutions. A recent investigation uncovered a total of 3,517 incidents involving major firms, although the companies deny any organized directive to engage in such practices. This situation raises concerns regarding the potential impact on customers’ ability to select optimal products.

Dai-ichi Life Holdings held an online briefing where they revealed that 1,155 instances of data leakage came from 28 financial institutions, highlighting the scale of the issue. Executive officer Akifumi Kai acknowledged the lack of clear rules regarding the exchange of information between seconded employees and stated that this absence of guidelines points to areas needing reflection. Nevertheless, he maintained that there was no directive from the organization to acquire information through improper means.

Interestingly, the 'activity reports' submitted by these seconded employees raised suspicions about their alleged organizational connections. Documents obtained by Asahi Shimbun indicate that these reports included items that could imply a structured approach to information retrieval, suggesting a deeper issue within the industry. This underlines the need for stricter regulations and oversight in the life insurance sector to ensure transparency and protect consumer interests.