HarbourVest hires Japan Post Insurance's alternatives head

Matsuo (pictured) was recruited by JPI in September 2016 to launch the firm's alternative investment program. He previously spent 14 years at Daido Life Insurance as general manager for alternative investment and before that held positions with Alternative Investment Capital and PwC.

JPI's journey into alternatives began in November 2015 with the IPO of its parent group. JPI and its sister entity, Japan Post Bank (JPB), had to start generating dividends for shareholders, which meant seeking higher returns than those available on government bonds. JPB launched its alternatives program in early 2016 and JPI entered the space about a year later.

JPI has always trailed JPB by total assets – JPY71.9 trillion ($663 billion) versus JPY215.7 trillion at the end of 2019 – team size, and resources available for alternatives. However, the firm still planned to deploy JPY1.1 trillion across private equity, real estate, infrastructure and credit in the first three years of its program.

More recently, JPI as a group has been engulfed by a scandal involving improper sales of insurance products. Last August, the firm said it had sold 183,000 polices over the course of five years that might have been disadvantageous to holders. As of the end of March, it had reviewed 11,434 cases and found legal violations or breaches of internal rules in 3,033.

HarbourVest opened its Tokyo office in 2010 and recruited Kubo from Norinchukin Bank to lead it. As of December 2019, the firm had more than $68 billion in assets under management globally, covering primary fund investments, secondary investments, and direct co-investments in commingled funds or separately managed accounts.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• North Asia
• People
• LPs
• Japan
• Japan Post Insurance
• HarbourVest Partners
• Appointments