The company will be barred from soliciting orders for or selling its auto insurance and other mainstay products through June 25 at all of its branch offices. Also, until July 11, the company will be prohibited from selling products of life insurance firms it has tied up with.

Among numerous offenses committed by the insurer, Sompo Japan is accused of refusing to pay massive sums of insurance money to policyholders. Its staff are also alleged to have paid premiums on behalf of customers to inflate their sales performances in efforts to meet targets set by management while knowing such a practice violates the insurance business law.

Sompo Japan President Hiroshi Hirano stepped down June 2 to take the blame.

The Japan Times Weekly: June 17, 2006
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