American Council of Life Insurers

The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) submitted a statement today at the request of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) regarding Japan's expression of interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (TPP). While supportive of Japan's interest in TPP, the submission notes longstanding issues with regard to Japan Post Insurance (JPI) and insurance cooperatives (kyosai) for which TPP offers resolution opportunities.
JPI, through its holding company Japan Post Holdings, is wholly-owned by the Government of Japan. Under the Postal Privatization Law it was in the process of moving toward partial privatization in 2009 when new legislation was enacted to freeze the sale of government shares in the world's largest life insurer. It is unclear at present whether that process will resume.
ACLI recommends that the U.S. government take no position on whether JPI should or should not be privatized and instead use the TPP process to ensure that JPI--whether publicly or privately owned--does not continue to enjoy government-bestowed privileges which distort competition.