Japan's financial watchdog orders MetLife to respond to data breach: source

Published: 2026-04-30 04:28:09 ET MET

Published on 04/30/2026 at 04:28 am EDT

Japan's financial watchdog has ordered a subsidiary of U.S. life insurer MetLife Inc. to respond to allegations of unauthorized data transfers, a source close to the matter said Thursday.

The Financial Services Agency has told the Japanese subsidiary of MetLife to present its preventive measures and analysis into why the misconduct occurred, according to the source.

The Bank of Fukuoka and the Hiroshima Bank said in March employees dispatched from the Japan unit of MetLife obtained without authorization information on insurance contracts involving clients. The insurer said it will conduct its own investigation into other possible cases.

The mishandling follows roughly 3,500 identified cases of employees across four major domestic insurance groups -- Nippon Life Insurance Co. group and Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. group companies, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. -- having obtained improper data from agencies they were dispatched to.

MetLife Japan began operations in 1973 as the country's first foreign-affiliated life insurer under the name Alico Japan.

The Financial Services Agency has also separately launched a probe into Prudential Life Insurance Co. following revelations that around 100 of its employees had defrauded about 500 clients out of about 3.1 billion yen ($19 million).

The agency, which has also investigated Prudential Life's parent company, Prudential Holdings of Japan Inc., to verify its management and control systems, is considering taking administrative action, sources close to the matter have said.

==Kyodo