U.S. Life Insurers say Japan's Kampo must stop WTO violations.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. says that Japan's government-run life insurer is in violation of World Trade Organization rules, and it is calling on the U.S. Trade Representative and President Bush to rectify the situation. At issue is the postal authority's insurance division, Kampo, which was founded in 1916 and now has 40% of the country's life market, thanks to nearly a century of government sponsorship. Kampo and the postal authority's deposit savings division make it the largest financial institution in the world; 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 says Kampo's government-provided commercial advantages have made it the largest life insurer in the world. Japan is set to privatize pri·va·tize tr.v. pri·va·tized, pri·va·tiz·ing, pri·va·tiz·es To change (an industry or business, for example) from governmental or public ownership or control to private enterprise: "The strike ... the Japan Post and Kampo by 2007. But in January, Kampo announced the offering of a new life insurance product, a fixed-term whole life policy that also has a health-benefits rider--a product that, the ACLI says, directly competes with private-sector products. When Kampo was founded, it sold mainly small-lot, monthly-installment life policies that weren't otherwise available in the private market. Thanks to nearly 100 years of government support, however, Kampo now has far more life insurance policies in force than its closest competitors do and offers many of the same products. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi (小泉 純一郎 Koizumi Jun'ichirō is overseeing 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 efforts, and the ACLI is hoping for Japan to "level the playing field" in the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , commented the 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. . U.S. Presence in Japan U.S.-based insurers with a stake in Japan's life market: Company 2002 Direct Premiums Aflac $5.93 billion American Life Co. 3.72 billion Gibralter Life Co. 2.74 billion GE Edison Life Co. 1.81 billion AIG Star Life Co. 1.79 billion Prudential Life Co. 1.68 billion Hartford Life Co. 0.49 billion MassMutual Life Co. 0.42 billion Source: Best's Insight Global |
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