Japan Post Holdings

Overview

Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd.

native name	日本郵政株式会社
romanized name	Nippon Yūsei kabushiki gaisha
type	Public
traded as	tyo: 6178 Nikkei 225 component TOPIX Large70 component
foundation	January 23, 2006 (incorporation) October 1, 2007 (start of operations)
predecessor	Japan Post
location	Otemachi PLACE
location city	Ōtemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo
location country	Japan
key people	Hiroya Masuda (president and CEO)
industry	Conglomerate
products	Mail delivery, post offices, banking, life insurance, insurance, courier
services	Financial services
revenue	US$ 109.91 billion (2020)‡R1R‡
net income	US$ 4.44 billion (2020)‡R1R‡
assets	US$ 2.64 trillion (2020)‡R1R‡
equity	US$ 100.0 billion (2020)‡R1R‡
num employees	232,112
num employees year	2022
subsid	Japan Post Japan Post Bank Japan Post Insurance Toll Group
owners	Government of Japan (35.98% by law)‡R2R‡ (30 June 2024)
homepage	https://www.japanpost.jp/en/

Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. (日本郵政株式会社) is a Japanese publicly traded conglomerate headquartered in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is mainly engaged in postal and logistics business, financial window business, banking business and life insurance business. The company offers letters and goods transportation services, stamp sales, deposits, loans, and insurance products.[3][4]

On November 4, 2015, Japan Post Holding (tyo: 6178) was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as part of a "triple IPO" (initial public offering) with shares offered as well in Japan Post Bank (tyo: 7182) and Japan Post Insurance (tyo: 7181).[5] About 10% of the shares in each company were offered.[5]

Privatization

Early discussions

Privatization of the postal system in Japan was first considered in the 1980s under Prime Minister Nakasone,[14] who, amid concerns about the government deficit, oversaw the privatization of three major public corporations: the Japanese National Railways, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), and Japan Tobacco.[14][15] These discussions did not proceed, and in 1997 the issue of privatizing Japan Post Bank specifically was raised again under Prime Minister Hashimoto. This time, opposition from within the ruling and opposition parties resulted only in reforms aimed at improving financial discipline that fell short of actual privatization.[14][16]

Enactment of privatization

In 2001, during an economic downturn in Japan, LDP politician Junichiro Koizumi took office with significant public support to privatize the postal system.[16][17] Benefits of privatization that were touted by supporters included efficiency of the financial sector, reducing political influence in the use of postal savings, and reducing bureaucratic mismanagement of funds. Detractors, including the postal lobby were concerned that privatization would shrink the universal availability of postal services in Japan, losing to job losses and the closing of rural post offices.[14]

Prime Minister Koizumi quickly established a commission to examine privatization of the postal system's businesses and in 2002 a package of four bills was passed which established Japan Post as a public corporation. In the following year, he was reelected with a promise to privatize the postal system. In 2004, Koizumi's government announced an ambitious ten-year plan for splitting Japan Post into several privatized entities by 2017.[16] In 2005, the resulting package of six privatization bills was defeated in the upper house of the Japanese Diet, and Koizumi called a snap election focused on postal privatization.

2005 plan for privatization

The Postal Privatization Law passed in 2005 laid out a framework for a preparation phase, a ten-year transition phase that was revised to start on October 1, 2007, and a post-privatization phase to organize the companies into their final forms.[15] A Cabinet-level Postal Privatization Headquarters would be established to develop and implementation plan to manage privatization and divide the resources of Japan Post between the successor companies.[16]

Japan Post Holdings was to start as a state-owned holding company for Japan Post Bank, Japan Post Insurance, Japan Post Network, and Japan Post Service and gradually sell off its shares through 2017.[15] The original plan was for the government to retain about a one-third ownership share of Japan Post Holdings, and for Japan Post Holdings to sell all its shares in its banking and insurance subsidiaries. Proceeds from the sale were to be used to reduce government debt.

Implementation of privatization and current status

The plan for privatization did not proceed smoothly, and after having been subject to a variety of external factors that still continues to this day. In 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan took power and halted the initial public offering for Japan Post companies.[19] In 2012, the administration went further in blunting some aspects of privatization, allowing the government to maintain indefinite control over Japan Post Holdings by stipulating a minimum of one-third shares to be owned by the government and removing targets for shares sold in the banking and insurance services units.[15]

In late 2012, incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reemphasized progress towards privatization as part of his Abenomics plan for economic reform and growth. It was also hoped that the sale of shares could raise funds for rebuilding after the Great East Japan Earthquake.[15][20] One result was the expediting of the IPO process for Japan Post companies.[15]

Japan Post Holdings

History

Senior leadership

List of presidents and CEOs

Operating companies

Privatization

Early discussions

Enactment of privatization

2005 plan for privatization

Implementation of privatization and current status

See also

External links

References