Japanese, U.S. officials begin talks on life products.Japanese officials began talks in Tokyo in August with the U.S. trade representative over the sale of life insurance products by Japan Post, the country's government-run postal, banking and insurance giant. The Japanese government is outlining a multiyear plan to privatize Japan Post. U.S. life insurance industry interests, spearheaded by the American Council of Life Insurers The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) is a Washington-based lobbying and trade group for the life insurance industry. ACLI represents 373 insurance companies that account for 93 percent of the U.S. life insurance industry's total assets. , have been watching closely. The ACLI ACLI American Council of Life Insurers ACLI Associazioni Cristiane Lavoratori Italiani (Italy) ACLI American Council of Life Insurance ACLI Ada Command Language Interpretation has asked Japan to prevent Kampo, Japan Post's life insurance segment, from introducing products before the privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned effort is completed. At privatization talks begun earlier this year, Kampo announced the introduction of a product that competes directly with private-sector offerings: A fixed-term whole life policy with a health benefits rider. Kampo enjoys significant advantages over its competitors. It doesn't pay taxes, and it operates under separate and less-transparent regulations than the private sector. Kampo also pays no policyholder-protection premiums, and all of its policies are guaranteed by the Japanese government. Kampo, which had been launched as the Postal Life Insurance Service in 1916 to serve rural and poor Japanese, has grown to be the world's largest life insurer and a hugely distorting influence on the Japanese market. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an ACLI white paper on Kampo published earlier this year, Kampo has about 40% market share in Japan--a number taken from Japan Post's own 2003 annual report. The ACLI and the U.S. trade representative have been asking Japan to place the new, privatized Kampo operation under the same regulations as those facing its private-sector competitors. ACLI's president and chief executive officer, Frank Keating Francis Anthony "Frank" Keating (February 10, 1944) is an American politician from Oklahoma. Keating served as the 25th Governor of Oklahoma. His first term began in 1995 and ended in 1999. Keating won reelection to a second term, which ended in 2003. , repeatedly has called on Japan Post to halt the sale of any new insurance products until a "level playing field See net neutrality. " is established. |
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