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Business Improvement Plan |
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Status of Business Improvement Plan reported (Oct 19) |
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MSI submitted the 13th report on the progress of the Business Improvement Plan (“BIP”) to the Financial Services Agency (“FSA”) of Japan. The report dealt with the actions to improve and strengthen the corporate governance and the claims handling systems, together with some references to the enhancement steps of compliance education to employees and agents, the assembly of the Council on Promotion of Customers' Viewpoint, the check-up on the cases determined as misconduct for appropriateness and the meeting held for misconduct examination.
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| (2) |
Domestic Non-life Insurance |
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New system for applicant’s intent confirmation by electronic signature (Oct 2) |
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MSI developed the EDP Contract System, a new system which completes the contract conclusion procedures due for automobile insurance in a paperless way and with no need of seal stamp, even for confirmation of applicant’s consent to the terms of the contract. This system is provided free of charge to agents and in service for their contract conclusion use since October 24. In addition to electronically confirming a customer’s consent without hand writing and seal stampings, it displays the terms of the contract, laying them out accordingly to the relevant contract and in a way easy for the customer to understand.
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Whole-life medical line resumed sales (Dec 3) |
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The line of whole-life medical insurance, or long-term health insurance with special rider of medical insurance, resumed its sales on December 1 with policies effective on that date or thereafter. Sales activities of ViV whole-life insurance, the conventional type of whole-life medical insurance, had been suspended since July 2006. Under the BIP, not only the solicitation and claims handling systems of the line had been upgraded, but the product designing had been revised fundamentally based on customers’ comments in preparation to resume its sales.
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Help services to be provided for policyholders traveling to Beijing Olympic Games (Dec 14) |
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During the Beijing Olympic Games scheduled in August 2008, the Walk-in Desk and the Service Line will be established only for those holders of our overseas travel policy who will visit Beijing for the games. A wide range of services will be available by face-to-face communication at the Walk-in Desk and over toll-free phone on the Service Line, both in Japanese language.
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TTCI 401k, defined contribution plan, established for TCCI members (Dec 25) |
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MSI and The Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (“TCCI”) cooperatively established a defined contribution pension plan named “TCCI 401k.” Targeting TCCI corporate members employing 15 or less persons, the TCCI 401k embarked on January15, 2008. The retirement benefit and pension funds are pooled in the General Defined Contribution Pension Plan managed by MSI. MSI, acting as its manager, helps the participating members in administration and operations of their funds.
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Industry-first system developed for real estate companies to process fire policies (Dec 28) |
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MSI developed jointly with Ring and Link Co., Ltd., a property consulting firm, “MS Dream,” a system which automatically prepares application forms of fire policy according to the customer database held at a user of real estate firm, and start offering it to real estate agencies in January. This automation system will significantly improve time efficiency in policy handling, and increase customers’ convenience by facilitating much speedier processing even in the busiest period during February to May, when customers are usually rushing for rollover or new policy, as well as reduction of incorrect data inputs.
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| (3) |
Domestic Life Insurance |
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MSI MetLife set up new call center (Oct 15) |
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Mitsui Sumitomo MetLife Insurance Co., Ltd. (“MSI MetLife”) opened a new call center by totally replacing the telephone operator system to a new one in order to increase capacity for the benefits of customers and agents calling the life insurer. This new system helps the operators respond more quickly to calling customers and connect them more easily with the right sections according to their inquiries on and requests for advice about its life insurance products. Moreover, it smoothens information sharing within the organization better than before.
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| (4) |
Overseas Business |
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MSI, first from Japan, entered local commercial insurance market in Germany (Oct 4) |
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MSI made an entry through its wholly-owned subsidiary into the general insurance market in Germany, the other European center of the industry along with the U.K., in October in order to target local businesses there. The UK-based subsidiary, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company (Europe), Ltd., had received a capital injection from MSI, secured underwriting personnel, and now provides German businesses with commercial insurance services in the lines such as fire, property, liability, and cargo. This is the first attempt of this sort among Japanese general insurers.
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New Comprehensive Transportation Insurance on sale in South Korea (Oct 24) |
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MSI’s Korea Branch released “New Transportation Insurance” to the local companies, including Japanese operating there, on October 18. This product is modeled on a best-selling policy sold by the pet name of “Support One” in Japan since November 2005. Drawing on the sales experiences in Japan, the branch is promoting it in Korea.
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MSI’s risk management firm in India honored with Asia Insurance Industry Awards (Oct 14) |
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Cholamandalam MS Risk Services Limited, MSI’ subsidiary in India, was honored with Risk Manager of the Year as the most prominent risk manager in the Asian insurance market at the ceremony of the 11th Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2007 held in Singapore on November 5.
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Chinese subsidiary commenced operation (Oct 29) |
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Duly finishing the filings to the competent local authorities, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company (China), Ltd., MSI’s subsidiary in China, officially announced opening of its operation effective December 1. Since the permit dated July 23, 2007 that MSI Shanghai Branch should be upgraded to a wholly-owned subsidiary had been granted from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, MSI followed the procedures as required by the Chinese authorities, and now that everything got met with the requirements, the subsidiary officially commenced its operation. This is the first subsidiary established in Shanghai among the Japanese general insurers, and a milestone in extending and upgrading the office network in China of which MSI is proud.
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| (5) |
Financial Services and Risk-related Businesses |
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IRR offers consultation service of earthquake training for commercial facilities (Oct 1) |
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Inter-Risk Research Institute & Consulting Inc. (“IRR”), MSI’s risk management consulting arm, developed a consulting program of disaster training for those commercial facilities, such as hotels, inns, and department stores, whose sites are crowded with not a few general public visitors, and offers it to such companies. Under the program, IRR helps a corporate client to prepare a disaster training plan and implement drills accordingly to it in order to raise adaptability of the client’s people in action and judgment in case of a disaster. The emergency earthquake alert had been changed to be addressed more broadly, including the general public, effective October 1, 2007. The Fire Service Law had been amended in June, and now requires companies to organize their own in-house fire guards. On the back of these effects, IRR is promoting the program to such target companies.
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IRR held Banking BCM Seminar (Oct 15) |
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IRR opened “Business Continuity Management (“BCM”) Seminar Specialized for the Banking Industry” on Wednesday, October 24. Amid the current situation where business continuity planning is more keenly recognized among banks for its necessity and significance, the Seminar invited the officers from the Bank of Japan, the Center for Financial Industry Information Systems and a bank introducing BCM as speakers on the theme of BCM approaches taken or to be taken at a bank.
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IRR invested in consortium to fight against new types of flu (Oct 31) |
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IRR, together with nine companies handling products and/or services related to new-types of influenza, participated in establishing “Consortium against New Type Influenza” for the purpose of making significance of fighting to prevent new types of influenza from a pandemic more broadly recognized.
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IRR jointly opened BCM Expo (Nov 9) |
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IRR and IDG Japan, Inc. jointly opened “Business Continuity Management 2007” or so-called “BCM Expo” on November 30. This was a general conference focused on BCM only, and Japan’s first exposition in this business area. Being the only one event of this sort and so large in scale, the BCM Expo gained more than 30 corporate participants in the seminars and/or demonstration at the site, and they offered explanations and suggestions regarding such as BCM trends currently spreading across the world.
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| (6) |
Other Topics |
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MSI opened symposium over corporate approaches to biodiversity conservation (Oct 4) |
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MSI sponsored an environmental symposium titled “Life Stories by Companies - symposium over business activities and biodiversity” to advocate incorporation of biodiversity-conservatory approaches in corporate activities. MSI has been contributing to a program of reforestation and wild life preservation in Indonesia by positioning it as a corporate effort in biodiversity conservation. The symposium was held along this line.
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MSA took part in Autumn Season’s Nationwide Traffic Safety Movement (Oct 4) |
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MSA (chaired by Ken Saitoh), an organization of MSI’ s highly qualified agents from all over Japan, volunteered to the Japan Traffic Safety Association for participation in the Autumn Season’s Nationwide Traffic Safety Movement which the association would conduct. All the members individually took a role in the PR campaign across the country in cooperation with the association’s branches and local police stations of their areas. This year, MSI carried out an accident prevention campaign for fleet and driving customers at the divisions and branches. In this way, MSI employees and MSA members worked concertedly worked for traffic safety.
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MSI issued CSR Report 2007 (Oct 16) |
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MSI issued “CSR Report 2007” to publicize its activity of corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) for the year. The report annually deals with the performance, current issues and perspective of its social responsible activity, and has been issued since fiscal 2004. This year’s issue features its efforts to improve the policy products and services based on voices of a wide range of people from various stakeholder categories. The highlight article focuses on the specific measures, particularly the “Quality Improvement” ones, taken under the business improvement plan, and their results or progress.
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Season’s greeting cards of children’s pictures to aid children in trouble overseas (Oct 24) |
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Smile Heart Club, a social contributory body of MSI volunteers and Kids Earth Fund, a specified non-political organization, based on its “kids helping kids” concept every year, use fund out of the revenues from the cards sold for the last season to open art workshops, where mentally suffering children in the trouble of battle or natural disaster are allowed to draw pictures as therapy. And their pictures are printed in turn on the cards to be sold for the coming season. This year, pictures by children from Croatia, Pakistan and New York were used for five patterns of season’s greeting cards, three patterns of general-purpose cards and two patterns of picture postcards for sale.
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MSI Welfare Foundation selected studies to subsidize and treatise to award prize (Nov 14) |
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Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation determined 48 researches to subsidize for fiscal 2007, and held an award ceremony on November 19. On this occasion, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation Prize was also conferred on a treatise selected out of excellent candidates of literary work or treatise. The 48 selected researches consist of 17 from the traffic safety category and 31 from the elderly care one. Including 37.2 million yen in sum of these subsidies, the total sum of the prize and subsidies to Japanese and non-Japanese researches was 39.9 million yen.
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New TVCM of corporate message on air since December (Nov 30) |
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Following the serial TVCMs, “Happy days assured by insurance - in Japan / abroad” aired since October 2007, the second series of corporate message, “Water” and “Air,” is on air since December. Mr. Yutaka Takenouchi, an actor, is featured in the second series, and there he says, ”Quality is all the more critical because it is essential,” comparing insurance to water and air.
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Promotion system of part-timers to permanent position established (Dec 4) |
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MSI will introduce a personnel system which enables promotion of part-timers, who are called “job partners” at MSI, to a permanent clerk position. Not only five-day week part-timers but those working on specified days of the week only or during limited hours of the day only may be eligible. This is the first system in the industry in respect of promotion possibility regardless of the current position of employment. It will be possible that a job-partners is promoted to a permanent generalist position first by way of this system and then by the existing promotion system.
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| (7) |
Amateur Sports |
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Women's Judo |
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Jigoro Kano Cup Tokyo International Championship (2007 World Grand Prix) (Dec 7-9)
Yoshie and Masae of Ueno sisters won the championship in the 70kg and 63kg classes, respectively. Yuki Yokozawa and Emi Yamagishi were bronze medalists in the 52kg and 48kg classes, respectively.
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Women's Marathon and Track |
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Eastern Japan Corporate Team Ekiden Relay Championship (Nov 3)
The MSI team achieved the eighth straight victory for the first time ever in this ekiden race history with a time of 2h 13m 09s. The runners were as follows;
| Leg1: Miki Ohira, |
Leg 2: Ikuyo Yamshita, |
Leg 3: Yoko Shibui, |
| Leg4: Rie Takayoshi, |
Leg 5: Chiaki Ohsaki, and |
Leg 6: Chiaki Iwamoto. |
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27th All Japan Corporate Team Ekiden Relay Championship (Dec 17)
MSI team achieved its sixth championship, record of the most victories in the race history, with the time of 2h 14m 03s. The members were as follows;
| Leg 1: Chiaki Iwamoto. |
Leg 2: Ikuyo Yamshita, |
Leg 3: Yoko Shibui, |
| Leg 4: Rie Takayoshi, |
Leg 5: Chiaki Ohsaki, and |
Leg 6: Miki Ohira. |
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