Japan Post chief says not aware of any plan to split postal service

Masaharu Ikuta, president of Japan Post, said he has not be notified of any government plan to split the postal service into three units as part of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s push to privatise the operation.

‘I am not aware of any plan to split Japan Post into three units under a holding company,’ Ikuta told a news conference when asked about a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan’s leading business daily.

In its morning edition today, the Nikkei reported, without citing sources, that the Cabinet Office is considering a plan to split up the mail services, postal savings and postal life insurance arms as separate units them under a holding company as part of the privatization.

The Nikkei said the holding company would own and manage the 24,700 post offices nationwide, and oversee the three operating units.

Koizumi has made laying down plans to privatize Japan Post a high priority for the coming year.