Prudential Life Insurance Co. said Thursday a third-party probe by lawyers found that more than 100 former and current salespeople had engaged in fraudulent or inappropriate transactions with customers worth 5.2 billion yen ($32.9 million) over more than three decades.
Hiromitsu Tokumaru, president of the Japanese subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc., and two other executives will voluntarily return 30 percent of their monthly remuneration for three months to take responsibility for the misconduct.
Tokumaru apologized at a press conference in Tokyo, acknowledging that the misconduct reflected "structural problems within the company."
The investigation report said that the company's sales staff "downplayed the customer-centric perspective."
The insurer said it had taken disciplinary action, including dismissals, against 157 current and former sales employees involved in the financial misconduct dating back to at least the 1990s.
To prevent similar misconduct, the insurer said it plans to introduce guaranteed minimum pay for sales staff from 2027.
Prudential Life Insurance has voluntarily suspended sales of new policies since February to review its governance and sales practices.
Tokumaru said staff whose sales practices were found to be free of problems would be allowed to resume selling new policies.
The president also indicated he has no intention of stepping down from his post anytime soon, saying his responsibility was to "ensure measures to prevent a recurrence are fully implemented."
The Financial Services Agency is considering ordering the insurer to suspend some operations, including a three-month halt to sales of new policies.
