Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has mandated Prudential Life Insurance Co. and its holding company to provide a comprehensive plan to prevent future misconduct after a series of fraud and data breaches involving former employees, according to local media reports.
The FSA’s order emphasises the need for stricter internal controls and compliance mechanisms. It follows three separate incidents of employee misconduct between 2023 and early 2025. Most notably, a former Prudential Life employee was arrested in June last year for allegedly defrauding 34 customers out of ¥750 million (approximately US$7 million) over two decades. Additionally, another former employee is accused of swindling ¥170m (approx. US$1.6m) from 10 customers. In February 2025, a third arrest involved the unauthorized disclosure of customer personal information.
The regulator has requested Prudential Life to outline specific preventative measures to enhance governance and prevent similar incidents in the future. This includes strengthening employee training, introducing advanced monitoring systems, and enforcing stricter compliance policies.
The incidents come as regulators tighten oversight of Japan’s insurance sector, including concerns around inappropriate sharing of data and price-fixing in the non-life segment. Last month, Japan Post Group had to face a data misuse controversy involving the inappropriate use of approximately 10 million customer accounts by its insurance arm, Kampo Life Insurance, for sales purposes.
