Japan Post could review privatisation process

Japanese internal affairs minister Tsutomu Sato suggested he might review the four-way split of Japan Post services.

Japanese internal affairs minister Tsutomu Sato suggested he might review the four-way split of Japan Post services.

“It needs to be managed based on the current situation and we need to launch a discussion,” Sato said in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture.

Sato’s remark came after he gave the green light to Yoshifumi Nishikawa’s reappointment as head of Japan Post Holdings Co., putting an end to a political feud that led to the resignation of Kunio Hatoyama, his predecessor at the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.

Based on a 10-year road map for postal privatisation, services are divided into mail delivery, post offices and other real estate, banking, and insurance under Japan Post Holdings.

Although a government panel in charge of reviewing Japan Post’s management has said it is too early to make drastic revisions to the road map, Sato’s remark may provoke such a discussion.

“We need to discuss with the Japan Post side whether we need to change (the current road map) for postal privatisation,” Sato said. “We will make changes where improvement is necessary.”

The Japan Post group, now fully owned by the government, is going through a 10-year privatisation process that started in fall 2007.