Sony Life to Commence Quarterly Disclosure on Its Website of the Status of Insurance Claim and Benefit Payments and the Number of Customer Complaints
August 30, 2007
Sony Life Insurance Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Financial Holdings, will begin posting on its website information on the status of insurance claim and benefit payments and the number of customer complaints. Beginning August 30, 2007, this information will be posted on the company's website on a quarterly basis and the English-language summary on the website of Sony Financial Holdings.
Recognizing that the payment of insurance claims is the most important function of an insurance company, Sony Life makes every effort to ensure the thoroughness of its claim payment systems. Furthermore, the company works to respond swiftly to various customer complaints and actively strives to improve its management in response to the opinions and requests it receives as feedback.
To raise management transparency, Sony Life will begin regularly disclosing information on the status of insurance claim and benefit payments and the number of customer complaints.
Date Posting to Begin
August 30, 2007
Content to be Posted
1. Status of Insurance Claim and Benefit Payments
During the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008 (April 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007), the number of policies on which payments were made and the number of policies on which non-payment decisions were made following appraisal were as follows.
- Number of policies (individual life insurance) on which payments were made
| First Quarter of Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2008 (April 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007) | ||
| Insurance Claims | Benefits | |
| Total | 2,668 | 40,980 |
Note: The numbers indicated above are the number of payments that were made on individual life insurance policies, by type of benefit payment. Payment by type of benefit counts the number of payments made in each payment category. For example, one medical insurance policy on which one hospitalization benefit claim and one surgical procedure benefit claim was made would be counted as two payments.
- Number of policies (individual life insurance) on which non-payment decisions were reached
| First Quarter of Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2008 (April 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007) | ||
| Insurance Claims | Benefits | |
| Invalid, as fraudulent | 1 | 1 |
| Invalid, as acquired for illegal purposes | 0 | 0 |
| Cancelled for nondisclosure reasons | 3 | 76 |
| Cancelled for grave reason | 0 | 0 |
| Justified exclusion | 22 | 1 |
| Outside scope of reasons for payment | 43 | 300 |
| Other | 2 | 6 |
| Total | 71 | 384 |
Notes:
1. The numbers indicated above are the number of individual life insurance policies on which a non-payment decision was made.
2. The numbers indicated above include such factors as requests for benefit payments made although the number of days of hospitalization were insufficient, or payment request documentation (medical certificates, etc.) indicated a claim was clearly outside the scope of payment.
2. Number of Customer Complaints
The number of complaints received during the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008 (April 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007) was as follows.
-
Definition of complaint
- A policyholder or related party was determined to have expressed dissatisfaction about life insurance to Sony Life
- An application filed or a report submitted citing suspected inappropriate action by a party related to Sony Life
- Number of complaints received
| Topic | First Quarter of Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 2008 (April 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007) | |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of Total | ||
| Enrollment in insurance policy | 535 | 27.8% |
| Payment of claims | 220 | 11.5% |
| Post-signing procedures or dividends | 583 | 30.3% |
| Payment of claims or benefits | 250 | 13.0% |
| Other | 335 | 17.4% |
| Total | 1,923 | 100.0% |
Note: This is an English-language summary of a Japanese announcement made by Sony Life on August 30, 2007. The summary was prepared by Sony Financial Holdings Inc. solely for the convenience of non-Japanese readers.
