Prudential Life Insurance said a special investigation committee found that inappropriate monetary conduct by current and former sales employees was not isolated misconduct but a structural problem tied to the company’s management framework and business model.
The committee said the company’s reliance on highly individualized customer relationships made it difficult for sales managers and head office to see what was happening on the ground, allowing repeated monetary transactions to go undetected for long periods. It also said compensation and oversight systems were weak, and that the company lacked a way to aggregate and analyze complaints, whistleblower reports, misconduct cases, and internal audit findings into a companywide risk view.
The company said it had already been under new management since February 2026 and has been rolling out reforms, but said the report showed those changes need to go further. It said it will expand measures covering sales activity controls, customer protection, governance, and organizational culture.
On customer reimbursement, Prudential Holdings of Japan’s independent customer reimbursement committee had completed reviews for 492 of 498 affected individuals as of the latest update. That means 6 cases remained under review.
On discipline, the company said 146 current and former sales employees were determined to have been involved in inappropriate monetary conduct. Of those, 53 received disciplinary dismissal or resignation under instruction, 68 were suspended from duty, and 25 received other disciplinary measures such as admonitions or reprimands. All disciplinary action against those 146 people was completed by April 2026.
Separately, in cases other than those announced on January 16, the company said all 11 individuals who were employed at the time reimbursement was approved or the violation was determined were subject to disciplinary dismissal or resignation under instruction.
For management responsibility, the current president and two other executives will voluntarily return part of their pay. Hiromitsu Tokumaru, representative director and president, will return 30% of monthly remuneration for three months. Yasuhiro Akiyama will return 30% for three months, and Kuniyoshi Hayashi will do the same.
On sales oversight, the company said it has introduced daily activity reporting by sales employees, with managers reviewing those records. It also said it gave governance training to about 4,000 sales employees during the suspension of new business sales, and provided intensive training to all sales managers.
The company said it has obtained declarations from all sales employees confirming they have not engaged in inappropriate handling of money, and said it may request credit information and tax returns with consent where necessary. It also said it will monitor each employee’s risk using activity, sales quality, and complaint data, and suspend sales activity if concerns arise.
To strengthen customer protection, the company said it is creating additional customer contact points and established a “customer office” to capture the voice of customers more systematically. Today the company's shares have moved -1.04% to a price of $112.36. Check out the company's full 8-K submission here.
