A government advisory panel on financial affairs agreed Monday on the need to aid troubled life insurers but was divided over a plan to allow them to cut yields guaranteed to policyholders.

The second subcommittee of the Financial System Council was beginning its debate over the government proposal, but many members questioned the efficacy and transparency of the plan put forward by the Financial Services Agency, panel members said.

"Political pressure has been mounting on us," Akiyoshi Horiuchi, a Chuo University professor and chairman of the subcommittee, told reporters. "We should have started the debate much earlier."