Postal privatization panel advances diverse reforms
Members of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s private advisory panel have submitted a number of proposals concerning the privatization of the postal services business, according to sources.
The panel, which is considering ways in which the three state-run postal businesses–mail, postal savings and insurance–should be operated, may release its final report as early as August.
Naoki Tanaka, an economic commentator and chair of the panel, has presented his submission on his Web site.
Tanaka has proposed that the nationwide network of post offices be converted into a joint-stock company that would earn revenues from undertaking over-the-counter banking services for financial institutions on a commission basis.
But Tanaka noted his concerns regarding the entry of private firms to the mail services.
“It’s extremely important in discussing the privatization of postal services that it be considered that the network of post offices won’t be able to earn enough profits with the entry of private companies into the sector and they may withdraw from areas with smaller populations,” he wrote on his Web site.
Concerning postal savings and insurance services, known as kampo, Tanaka proposes that they be controlled by an independent administrative institution and their over-the-counter business be commissioned to the post office network.
Prof. Satoshi Matsubara at Toyo University, a member of the panel, presents a plan on his Web site for the postal services to be converted into a special corporation wholly owned by government.
Matsubara said the postal services are a matter of public interest to some extent and so should be supervised by the government.
Examples of such special companies include the Electric Power Development Co., NTT Corp. and Japan Tobacco Inc.
The special corporation is a more suitable structure for making the postal services efficient business enterprises run in the public interest, as opposed to having them run by a public corporation, he says on the Web site
