December 18, 2014

1

BASIS FOR THE FINANCIAL STABILITY OVERSIGHT COUNCIL’S 

FINAL DETERMINATION REGARDING METLIFE, INC.

1. Introduction............................................................................................................................. 2

1.1 Council Determination ..................................................................................................... 2

1.2 Engagement with MetLife................................................................................................ 2

1.3 The Legal and Analytic Framework for a Final Determination....................................... 3

1.4 Transmission Channels for Material Financial Distress .................................................. 5

1.5 Determination that MetLife is Predominantly Engaged in Financial Activities.............. 6

2. Description of MetLife ........................................................................................................... 6

2.1 Overview .......................................................................................................................... 6

2.2 Certain Institutional and Capital Markets Products and Activities.................................. 9

2.2.1 Overview................................................................................................................... 9

2.2.2 Funding Agreements and Funding Agreement–Backed Securities.......................... 9

2.2.3 Securities Lending .................................................................................................. 10

2.2.4 GICs and Synthetic GICs........................................................................................ 11

2.3 Captive Reinsurance....................................................................................................... 12

2.4 General and Separate Accounts...................................................................................... 13

2.5 Variable Annuities.......................................................................................................... 13

2.6 MetLife During the Recent Financial Crisis.................................................................. 14

3. Analysis of Potential Effects of Material Financial Distress at MetLife .............................. 15

3.1 Transmission Channel Analysis..................................................................................... 15

3.1.1 Overview................................................................................................................. 15

3.1.2 Exposure Transmission Channel............................................................................. 17

3.1.3 Asset Liquidation Transmission Channel............................................................... 21

3.1.4 Critical Function or Service Transmission Channel ............................................... 25

3.2 Existing Supervision and Regulation ............................................................................. 26

3.3 Resolvability................................................................................................................... 29

4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 30
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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Council Determination

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (Council) was established in 2010 with three purposes: 

to identify risks to U.S. financial stability; to promote market discipline; and to respond to 

emerging threats to the stability of the United States financial system.1 To address potential risks 

to U.S. financial stability, the Dodd-Frank Act authorizes the Council to determine that certain 

nonbank financial companies shall be supervised by the Board of Governors of the Federal 

Reserve System (Board of Governors) and be subject to enhanced prudential standards. 

Because MetLife, Inc. (MetLife) is a significant participant in the U.S. economy and in financial 

markets, is interconnected to other financial firms through its insurance products and capital 

markets activities, and for the other reasons described below, material financial distress at 

MetLife could lead to an impairment of financial intermediation or of financial market 

functioning that would be sufficiently severe to inflict significant damage on the broader 

economy. Based on the Council’s evaluation of all the facts of record in light of the factors that 

the Council is statutorily required to consider, the Council has made a final determination that 

material financial distress at MetLife could pose a threat to U.S. financial stability and that 

MetLife will be supervised by the Board of Governors and be subject to enhanced prudential 

standards. 

The Council’s final determination does not constitute a conclusion that MetLife is experiencing, 

or is likely to experience, material financial distress. Rather, consistent with the statutory 

standard for determinations by the Council under section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the 

Council has determined that material financial distress at the company, if it were to occur, could 

pose a threat to U.S. financial stability. 

1.2 Engagement with MetLife

In making its determination, the Council carefully considered a broad range of information

available through public and regulatory sources, as well as information provided by MetLife. 

The Council’s determination is based on extensive qualitative and quantitative analyses 

regarding MetLife, taking into account the company’s businesses and activities and companyspecific financial analysis. 

On July 16, 2013, the Council notified MetLife that the company was under consideration for a 

proposed determination by the Council. The company was invited to meet with staff and to 

submit materials, and the Council also requested specific information relevant to the Council’s 

evaluation. Between September 2013 and September 2014, staff of Council members and their 

agencies met with MetLife’s representatives 12 times. These staff were subject to the direction 

of the Council’s Deputies Committee and Nonbank Financial Company Designations 

Committee, both of which include representatives of all of the Council members. In addition, 

representatives of the company met with senior officials of Council members and member 

agencies. Staff also had five meetings with two state insurance regulatory authorities with 

 1 See Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) section 111, 

12 U.S.C. § 5321.
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jurisdiction over MetLife’s insurance subsidiaries. MetLife submitted over 21,000 pages of 

materials to the Council during its evaluation. 

On September 4, 2014, the Council voted to make a proposed determination regarding MetLife. 

On the same day, the Council sent the company a notice and explanation of the basis of the 

proposed determination, which provided an extensive analysis of the potential for material 

financial distress at MetLife to pose a threat to U.S. financial stability. The notice also informed 

the company of its right to request a hearing before the Council to contest the proposed 

determination. On October 3, 2014, MetLife requested a written and an oral hearing before the 

Council, which was granted by the Council. MetLife submitted written hearing materials to the 

Council on October 16, 2014. An oral hearing before the full Council was held on November 3, 

2014. On November 10, 2014, the company submitted additional written materials to 

supplement the materials presented during the oral hearing. 

The company’s submissions to the Council before and after the proposed determination were 

considered by the Council. On December 18, 2014, the Council voted to make a final 

determination regarding MetLife, and provided the company with a detailed statement of the 

basis for the Council’s decision.2

The statement of the basis for the final determination that the Council provided to MetLife relies 

extensively on nonpublic information that was submitted by MetLife to the Council. For 

example, that analysis includes information such as the types and amounts of counterparty 

exposures to MetLife arising from the company’s securities issuances, guaranteed investment 

contracts (GICs), and derivatives activities; the size, collateralization, and liquidity of the 

company’s securities lending program; the impact on capital of the company’s use of captive 

reinsurance; the terms of inter-affiliate transactions; and the scale of the company’s insurance 

liabilities with discretionary withdrawal features. The Council is subject to statutory and 

regulatory requirements to maintain the confidentiality of certain information submitted to it by a 

nonbank financial company under review for a potential determination.

3

 As a result, this public 

explanation of the basis for the Council’s final determination omits such information and 

addresses the key factors that the Council considered in its evaluation of MetLife and the 

primary reasons for the Council’s determination. This explanation of the basis is intended to 

provide Congress and the public with an understanding of the Council’s analysis while 

protecting sensitive, confidential information submitted by MetLife to the Council. 

1.3 The Legal and Analytic Framework for a Final Determination 

The Council may determine that a nonbank financial company will be supervised by the Board of

Governors and be subject to prudential standards if the Council determines that (1) material 

financial distress at the nonbank financial company could pose a threat to the financial stability

of the United States (the First Determination Standard) or (2) the nature, scope, size, scale, 

concentration, interconnectedness, or mix of the activities of the nonbank financial company

could pose a threat to the financial stability of the United States (the Second Determination 

 2 The nonpublic statement of the basis of the Council’s decision that the Council provided to MetLife constitutes 

part of the Council’s administrative record regarding MetLife. 

3 See Dodd-Frank Act section 112(d)(5), 12 U.S.C. § 5322(d)(5); 12 C.F.R. part 1310.20(e).
December 18, 2014

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Standard).4

 The Council may subject a nonbank financial company to Board of Governors 

supervision and enhanced prudential standards if either the First or Second Determination 

Standard is met. The Council evaluated MetLife under the First Determination Standard. 

In considering whether to make a determination that a nonbank financial company will be 

supervised by the Board of Governors and subject to enhanced prudential standards, the Council 

is required to consider the following 10 statutory factors:5

1. the extent of the leverage of the company;

2. the extent and nature of the off-balance-sheet exposures of the company;

3. the extent and nature of the transactions and relationships of the company with 

other significant nonbank financial companies and significant bank holding 

companies;

4. the importance of the company as a source of credit for households, businesses, 

and State and local governments and as a source of liquidity for the United States 

financial system;

5. the importance of the company as a source of credit for low-income, minority, or 

underserved communities, and the impact that the failure of such company would 

have on the availability of credit in such communities;

6. the extent to which assets are managed rather than owned by the company, and the

extent to which ownership of assets under management is diffuse;

7. the nature, scope, size, scale, concentration, interconnectedness, and mix of the 

activities of the company;

8. the degree to which the company is already regulated by 1 or more primary 

financial regulatory agencies;

9. the amount and nature of the financial assets of the company; and

10. the amount and types of the liabilities of the company, including the degree of 

reliance on short-term funding.

In determining that material financial distress at MetLife could pose a threat to U.S. financial 

stability, the Council considered each of the statutory considerations in section 113 of the DoddFrank Act and all of the facts of record.

The Council adopted a rule and interpretive guidance (Interpretive Guidance)6 that describe the 

manner in which the Council applies the statutory standards and considerations, and the 

processes and procedures that the Council follows, in making determinations under section 113 

 4 Dodd-Frank Act section 113(a)(1), 12 U.S.C. § 5323(a)(1). 5 The Council may also consider any other risk-related factors that it deems appropriate. Dodd-Frank Act section 

113(a)(2), 12 U.S.C. § 5323(a)(2). 6 12 C.F.R. part 1310, app. A.
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of the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule and Interpretive Guidance describe the factors that the Council 

intends to use when analyzing companies at various stages of the determination process, 

including sample metrics. The Council’s ultimate assessment of whether a nonbank financial 

company meets a statutory standard for determination is based on an evaluation of each of the 

statutory considerations, taking into account facts and circumstances relevant to the company.

The Interpretive Guidance explains the analytic framework developed by the Council to group 

the 10 statutory considerations into six categories: size, interconnectedness, substitutability, 

leverage, liquidity risk and maturity mismatch, and existing regulatory scrutiny. The Council 

analyzes a nonbank financial company using appropriate quantitative and qualitative data 

relevant to each of these six categories.

The Interpretive Guidance also defines statutory terms relevant to the determinations process. 

The Interpretive Guidance states that the Council will consider a “threat to the financial stability 

of the United States” to exist “if there would be an impairment of financial intermediation or of 

financial market functioning that would be sufficiently severe to inflict significant damage on the 

broader economy.” The Interpretive Guidance also reflects the belief of the Council that

“material financial distress” exists when a nonbank financial company “is in imminent danger of 

insolvency or defaulting on its financial obligations.” 

As history has shown, including in 2008, financial crises can be hard to predict and can have 

consequences that are both far-reaching and unanticipated. Consistent with the Council’s 

mission under the Dodd-Frank Act to identify potential threats before they occur, and as 

described in the Interpretive Guidance, the Council’s analysis focuses on the potential 

consequences of material financial distress at MetLife “in the context of a period of overall stress 

in the financial services industry and in a weak macroeconomic environment.” As a result, the 

Council considered a range of outcomes that are possible but vary in likelihood. The Council’s 

approach is consistent with the statutory standard set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act; it considers 

the range of potential outcomes of MetLife’s material financial distress, rather than relying on a 

specific worst-case scenario. There may be scenarios in which material financial distress at 

MetLife would not pose a threat to U.S. financial stability, but there is a range of possible 

alternatives in which it could do so.

1.4 Transmission Channels for Material Financial Distress

In evaluating MetLife, the Council assessed how the company’s material financial distress could 

be transmitted to other firms or markets, thereby causing a broader impairment of financial 

intermediation or of financial market functioning. An impairment of financial intermediation 

and financial market functioning can occur through several channels. In the Interpretive 

Guidance, the Council identified the following channels as most likely to facilitate the 

transmission of the negative effects of a nonbank financial company’s material financial distress 

to other financial firms and markets:

• Exposure. Through this transmission channel, the Council evaluates if a nonbank 

financial company’s creditors, counterparties, investors, or other market participants have 

exposure to the company that is significant enough to materially impair those creditors, 

counterparties, investors, or other market participants and thereby pose a threat to U.S. 

financial stability. 
December 18, 2014

6

• Asset liquidation. The Council assesses whether a nonbank financial company holds 

assets that, if liquidated quickly, would cause a fall in asset prices and thereby 

significantly disrupt trading or funding in key markets or cause significant losses or 

funding problems for other firms with similar holdings.

• Critical function or service. The evaluation of this transmission channel considers the 

potential effects if a nonbank financial company is no longer able or willing to provide a 

critical function or service that is relied upon by market participants and for which there 

are no ready substitutes.

In addition to these three transmission channels, the Interpretive Guidance notes that the threat a 

nonbank financial company may pose to U.S. financial stability is likely to be exacerbated if the 

company is sufficiently complex, opaque, or difficult to resolve in bankruptcy such that its 

resolution in bankruptcy would disrupt key markets or have a material adverse impact on other 

financial firms or markets. A company’s resolvability may mitigate or aggravate the potential 

for the company to pose a threat to U.S. financial stability. 

1.5 Determination that MetLife is Predominantly Engaged in Financial Activities 

The Council is authorized to determine that a nonbank financial company will be subject to 

supervision by the Board of Governors and to enhanced prudential standards.7

 A company is a 

nonbank financial company, and thus eligible for a determination by the Council, if it is 

predominantly engaged in financial activities, subject to certain exceptions.8 Section 102(a)(6) 

of the Dodd-Frank Act provides that a company is predominantly engaged in financial activities 

if at least 85 percent of the company’s and all of its subsidiaries’ annual gross revenues are 

derived from, or at least 85 percent of the company’s and all of its subsidiaries’ consolidated 

assets are related to, “activities that are financial in nature” as defined in section 4(k) of the Bank 

Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended.9 

More than 85 percent of MetLife’s revenues are derived from activities that are financial in 

nature, and more than 85 percent of MetLife’s assets are related to activities that are financial in 

nature.10 Thus, MetLife is a nonbank financial company and is eligible for a final determination 

by the Council.

2. DESCRIPTION OF METLIFE

2.1 Overview

MetLife is a significant participant in financial markets and the U.S. economy and is 

significantly interconnected to insurance companies and other financial firms through its 

products and capital markets activities.11 MetLife, Inc., a Delaware corporation, is a publicly 

 7 See Dodd-Frank Act section 113, 12 U.S.C. § 5323. 8 Dodd-Frank Act section 102(a)(4), 12 U.S.C. § 5311(a)(4). 9 Dodd-Frank Act section 102(a)(6), 12 U.S.C. § 5311(a)(6). See also 12 C.F.R. part 242. 10 See Bank Holding Company Act section 4(k)(4)(B) and (I), 12 U.S.C. §§ 1843(k)(4)(B) and (I). 11 As noted above, the Council is subject to requirements to maintain the confidentiality of certain information 

submitted to it by a nonbank financial company under review for a potential determination. As a result, this public 

explanation of the basis for the Council’s final determination omits such information.
December 18, 2014

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traded holding company headquartered in New York, New York. MetLife is the largest publicly 

traded U.S. insurance organization12 and one of the largest financial services companies in the 

United States,

13 based on total assets. As of September 30, 2014, MetLife had $909 billion of 

total consolidated assets, consisting of approximately $516 billion of general account invested 

assets (including cash and cash equivalents) and $319 billion of separate account assets.14 In 

addition, MetLife had $71 billion of total equity.

15, 16 As of September 30, 2014, MetLife’s

market capitalization was approximately $61 billion.

Through its subsidiaries,17 MetLife is a leader in providing a wide array of financial services, 

including group and individual life insurance, annuity products, and retirement-related products 

and services. MetLife is the largest provider of life insurance in the United States as measured 

by total SAP admitted assets18 and gross life insurance in-force, with $4.4 trillion of gross life 

insurance in-force (excluding annuities) as of December 31, 2013.19 As of year-end 2013, 

MetLife operated in approximately 50 countries through 359 subsidiaries.20

As of September 30, 2014, more than 75 percent of MetLife’s assets and revenues were derived 

from its U.S. and Latin American operations (the company’s Americas segment). MetLife’s 

assets located outside of the United States are predominantly in Asia.

21 Other geographic 

regions include Asia; and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). MetLife’s U.S. 

operations are managed by line of business, including Retail; Group, Voluntary & Worksite 

Benefits; and Corporate Benefit Funding. The Retail line of business provides whole life, term 

life, variable life, and universal life insurance; disability and property and casualty insurance; 

and fixed and variable annuities. The Group, Voluntary & Worksite Benefits business line 

provides term life, variable and universal life, disability, dental, and property and casualty 

insurance. The Corporate Benefit Funding line of business primarily manages the company’s 

institutional business, which offers insurance, annuity, and investment products that include 

GICs, funding agreements, other stable value products, and separate account contracts for the 

 12 SNL Financial, data as of September 30, 2014. 13 SNL Financial, data as of September 30, 2014. 14 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 4. See section 2.4 for a 

discussion of the differences between general and separate accounts.

15 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 4. Publicly traded 

insurance organizations report financial data prepared on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles 

(GAAP); unless otherwise noted, financial data cited herein were prepared on a GAAP basis. Licensed insurance 

companies, including subsidiaries of publicly traded companies, are also required to file financial data prepared on 

the basis of statutory accounting principles (SAP) for state regulatory reporting purposes.

16 See Appendix A for the company’s consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2014. 17 Consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act, the Council’s determination is with respect to MetLife, Inc., the holding 

company of the MetLife organization. However, because the business and activities of MetLife, Inc. are conducted 

primarily through its subsidiaries, the Council’s analysis considered the potential effects of material financial 

distress at one or more of the company’s significant subsidiaries as well as at the holding company. Therefore, 

depending on the context, references to “MetLife” may refer to the holding company or to the holding company and 

one or more of its subsidiaries.

18 An insurer’s statutory admitted assets are assets which can be valued and included on the balance sheet to 

determine financial viability of the company. 

19 SNL Financial, using data prepared on the basis of SAP. 20 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 44 and Exhibit 21.1. 21 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 19.
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investment management of defined benefit and defined contribution plan assets.22 In addition, 

MetLife provides institutions with products to fund post-retirement benefits and corporateowned, bank-owned, insurance company-owned life insurance, and trust-owned life insurance 

(COLI, BOLI, ICOLI, and TOLI, respectively) for certain corporate employees.23 

MetLife’s U.S. insurance company subsidiaries are regulated and supervised by their respective 

home state insurance regulatory authorities. As of December 31, 2013, those states, among 

others, include New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Missouri.24 

Domiciled in New York, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), one of MetLife’s 

wholly owned subsidiaries, has approximately $396 billion in assets,25 over 40 percent of 

MetLife’s total consolidated assets. MLIC underwrites life insurance and issues annuity 

products, which are sold to individuals, corporations, and other institutions and their 

employees.26

On November 17, 2014, MetLife announced that it had completed a merger of four insurance 

subsidiaries (MetLife Investors USA Insurance Company, MetLife Investors Insurance 

Company, Exeter Reassurance Company Ltd., and MetLife Insurance Company of Connecticut) 

into a single surviving company domiciled in Delaware named MetLife Insurance Company 

USA.

27 Before the merger, these entities had total combined assets of over $150 billion (on a 

SAP basis).

28 

 22 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, pp. 11-12. MetLife Annual 

Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, pp. 8-9. 23 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, pp. 11-12. See MetLife, 

COLI/BOLI overview, available at https://www.metlife.com/institutional-retirement/plan-sponsors/coliboli/index.html?WT.ac=GN_institutional-retirement_plan-sponsors_coli-boli#overview. 24 See MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, pp. 311, 313. 25 MLIC of the State of New York, Statutory Filing for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. Q02, available at 

http://investor.metlife.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=121171&p=irol-statutory_MLIC. 26 MLIC of the State of New York, Statutory Filing for the year ended December 31, 2013, Management’s 

Discussion and Analysis, p. 1. As of year-end 2013, 924 life and health insurance companies were in business in the 

United States, offering approximately $570 billion of life insurance protection through individual policies and group 

certificates. In the first nine months of 2014, MLIC wrote over $62 billion in direct premiums, including life 

insurance (no annuity), annuity product considerations, deposit-type contracts, and other considerations, which is 

more than any other insurance company. See MLIC of the State of New York, Statutory Filing for the quarter ended 

September 30, 2014, p. Q06. See also Federal Insurance Office, U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Annual Report 

on the Insurance Industry” (September 2014), available at http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/fio/reports-andnotices/Documents/2014_Annual_Report.pdf. 27 MetLife Press Release, “MetLife Completes Merger of Three Life Insurance Companies and One Former 

Offshore Reinsurance Subsidiary” (November 17, 2014), available at https://www.metlife.com/about/pressroom/index.html?compID=150359. 28 SNL Financial, data as of December 31, 2013.
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2.2 Certain Institutional and Capital Markets Products and Activities

2.2.1 Overview

MetLife leads the U.S. life insurance industry in certain institutional products and capital 

markets activities, such as issuances of funding agreement–backed notes (FABNs),29 guaranteed 

minimum return products (such as general and separate account GICs), and securities lending 

activities. These activities expose other market participants to MetLife and create on– and off–

balance sheet liabilities that increase the potential for asset liquidations by MetLife in the event 

of its material financial distress. Efforts to hedge such risks through derivatives and other 

financial activities are imperfect and further increase MetLife’s complexity and 

interconnectedness with other financial markets participants.

2.2.2 Funding Agreements and Funding Agreement–Backed Securities

MetLife’s funding agreements and related products, its FABNs and funding agreement–backed 

commercial paper (FABCP), constitute a significant portion of the company’s capital markets 

financing activities and contribute to the company’s operating leverage.30 MetLife issued 

approximately 75 percent of all FABNs issued by U.S. life insurers in the first six months of 

2013.31 These funding agreement–related instruments could contribute to or exacerbate the 

transmission of MetLife’s material financial distress through the exposure and asset liquidation 

transmission channels. 

In general, funding agreements are investment products issued out of the general account of an 

insurer into the institutional market. In MetLife’s funding agreement–backed securities program, 

an insurer sponsors the establishment of a limited liability company to act as a special purpose 

vehicle (SPV) and issues a funding agreement to the SPV.32 Generally, a funding agreement is a 

direct senior obligation of the sponsoring insurance company. The SPV issues notes that provide 

the note holders with a security interest in the underlying funding agreement. Under the terms of 

a funding agreement, the insurance company agrees to pay interest and principal on the amounts 

borrowed from the SPV. The funding agreement is the SPV’s primary asset and the source of 

funds to pay the note holders.33 In 2013, MetLife issued $49.2 billion, and repaid $48.6 billion, 

 29 See Fitch Ratings Special Report: “U.S. Funding Agreement-Backed Note Market Update: Tepid Market Since 

2009” (December 10, 2013), p. 1. MetLife also has funding agreements through a program with the Federal 

Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac). MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 

September 30, 2014, p. 170. 30 Certain funding agreements, GICs and all other “deposit-type contracts” do not incorporate insurance risk. The 

National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) defines these deposit-type contracts as “contracts issued 

by insurers that do not incorporate risk from the death or disability of policyholders (mortality or morbidity risk) are 

more comparable to financial or investment instruments issued by other financial institutions than to insurance 

contracts.” See NAIC Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual (2013). 31 Based on data downloaded from a Bloomberg terminal as of March 20, 2014, and Council analysis. 32 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 9. 33 See Fitch Ratings Special Report, “FA-Backed Notes: From Zero to $135 Billion in Eight Years” (March 3, 

2005), p. 4; Moody’s Investors Service, “MetLife Short Term Funding LLC” (September 11, 2013), p. 4; See A.M. 

Best, “Rating Funding Agreement-Backed Securities Programs” (November 2, 2011), p. 3, available at 

http://www.ambest.com/ratings/fundagreementmethod.pdf; Metropolitan Life Global Funding I, prospectus for $25 

billion Global Note Issuance Program (September 2012), p. 10; MetLife Institutional Funding II, prospectus for $7 

billion Global Medium Term Note Issuance Program (September 2012), p. 5.
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in funding agreements. As of September 30, 2014, the company’s total obligation outstanding 

under these funding agreements was $52.3 billion.34 MetLife’s private placement FABNs 

outstanding increased by 50 percent between the beginning of 2009 and the end of 2013, from 

$10 billion to $15 billion, and has subsequently decreased to approximately $13 billion.35

Because these instruments are of varying maturities, some of which are short-term, MetLife is 

exposed to liquidity risk in the event that its investors determine not to renew their investment in 

MetLife’s funding agreement–backed securities. This risk likely would increase if MetLife were 

to experience material financial distress and the program lost its prime rating. 

Through its FABCP program, MetLife typically issues a funding agreement to a commercial 

paper conduit, which is funded through the issuance of commercial paper. The issued funding 

agreements do not necessarily match the maturity of the commercial paper. The FABCP is 

short-term, which exposes MetLife to the risk that its investors could determine not to renew

their investment in MetLife’s FABCP, particularly if MetLife were to experience material 

financial distress. MetLife’s insurance companies act as liquidity backstops in the event that the 

FABCP is not renewed.

36 Similarly, certain borrowings under MetLife’s other funding 

agreement–related contracts can be subject to rollover risk, which creates additional liquidity risk 

for MetLife. 

If MetLife were to experience material financial distress, MetLife may not be able to roll over its 

fixed-maturity funding agreement–backed securities, extend its funding agreement–backed 

securities with embedded put options, or maintain its securities lending transactions in 

connection with its funding agreement–backed securities programs, which could force MetLife 

to liquidate assets, including illiquid assets, if the organization’s liquid assets were insufficient to 

meet this unexpected demand.37 In addition, MetLife’s funding agreements and funding 

agreement–backed securities create exposures to MetLife for the holders of those instruments. 

2.2.3 Securities Lending

MetLife’s securities lending program provides the organization with a meaningful source of 

funding and operating leverage. Under the securities lending program, MetLife was liable for 

cash collateral under its control of approximately $30 billion as of September 30, 2014.38 Of that 

amount, $8 billion related to securities (primarily U.S. Treasury and agency securities) that could 

be returned to MetLife within one business day, requiring the immediate return of cash collateral 

held by MetLife.39 MetLife uses the cash collateral under this program to purchase additional 

securities, which can be less liquid than the securities lent.40 The securities MetLife purchased 

 34 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 154. 35 Data downloaded from a Bloomberg terminal as of March 20, 2014. 36 Moody’s Investors Service, “MetLife Short Term Funding LLC, ABCP Program Review” (September 11, 2013), 

pp. 4-5. 37 Rating agencies have noted that the use of FABCP or FABN programs has the potential to expose an insurer to 

liquidity and asset–liability management risks that could manifest during times of stressed market conditions. See, 

e.g., Moody’s Investor Service, “US Life Insurers’ FANIP Issuance Up On Attractive Funding Costs; Higher ALM 

Risks but More Spread Income” (May 14, 2014), p. 1. 

38 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 174.

39 Id. 40 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 44.
December 18, 2014

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with the cash collateral as well as the securities lent can generally count as admitted assets for 

the purpose of satisfying MetLife’s state-based regulatory capital requirements.41 MetLife’s 

securities lending program and the reinvestment of the cash collateral could create or exacerbate 

certain risks that MetLife could pose to other financial firms and markets in the event of its 

material financial distress. 

2.2.4 GICs and Synthetic GICs

MetLife’s GICs are general account and separate account liabilities of its insurance company 

subsidiaries offered to defined contribution plans directly or through stable value product 

intermediaries:

• MetLife’s basic GIC product, referred to as the “Traditional GIC,” is written out of the 

insurance companies’ general accounts and offers clients a fixed or indexed rate 

investment.42

• The proprietary “Met Managed GIC” is a separate account product that provides a 

general account guarantee of specified value, notwithstanding any decline in the value of 

the separate account assets.43 The Met Managed GIC is offered to plan sponsors to 

support the liabilities of certain qualified benefit plans, and generally allows for 

employee-directed book-value withdrawals for benefits provided under those plans, 

including transfers to certain plan investment options and loans to the participant.44

• Synthetic GICs are similar to Met Managed GICs (for example, they offer a general 

account guarantee), but refer to GICs booked as derivatives against underlying assets 

held by the contract holder rather than by MetLife. MetLife’s synthetic GICs provide an 

insurer’s client retirement plans with a minimum interest rate guarantee on their 

investments and a book value liquidity guarantee. Unlike Traditional GICs and Met 

Managed GICs, the underlying reference assets are owned and controlled by the plan 

rather than MetLife. 

As of December 31, 2013, MetLife had $6 billion of traditional GICs outstanding.45 MetLife 

also had $42 billion of separate account liabilities with guarantees, some of which are separate 

account GICs.46 GIC participant balances are guaranteed up to the contract’s book value by 

MetLife’s insurance company subsidiaries and could develop into underfunded liabilities during 

stressed market conditions. The general account guarantees associated with MetLife’s 

 41 See Statement of Statutory Accounting Principles No. 103—Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial 

Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities. 42 See MetLife letter to SEC and CFTC regarding Stable Value Contract Study (September 26, 2011), available at 

https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/institutional-retirement/MetLifeResponseSEC-CFTC-RFIStableValueSept2011.pdf. 43 Id. 44 Id. 45 SNL Financial, data as of December 31, 2013. Based on statutory data, SNL Life Group, Exhibit 7, Deposit type 

contracts (GI Contracts).

46 SNL Financial, data as of December 31, 2013. Based on statutory data, SNL Life Group, Note 32, Analysis of 

Annuity Actuarial Reserves and Deposit Type Liabilities by Withdrawal Characteristics.
December 18, 2014

12

Traditional GICs and Met Managed GICs could lead MetLife to liquidate assets in the event of 

unexpected liquidity demands, which could result in the transmission of the negative effects of 

MetLife’s material financial distress through the asset liquidation channel. In a stress scenario, 

the market value of the MetLife insurers’ assets supporting the GICs may be less than book value 

at the time the contract holder is due to receive a payout or other withdrawal supported by the 

GICs. 

A key feature of MetLife’s separate account GIC, the Met Managed GIC, is that contract holders 

are protected from creditor claims in the event of a failure of the issuing MetLife insurer, 

because assets are held in the separate account. However, as with the Traditional GIC, Met 

Managed GICs guarantee payment of participant-initiated transactions, such as withdrawals for 

benefits, loans, or transfers to other funds within a plan.47 GIC participant balances are 

guaranteed up to the contract’s book value by MetLife and could develop into an underfunded 

liability during stressed market conditions. If MetLife experienced material financial distress 

and were unable to honor its obligations under these contracts, entities holding these financial 

guarantees could be exposed to losses. Testing to determine whether the market value of assets 

backing separate account GIC contracts is adequate to support the contract liabilities guaranteed 

may mitigate the risk in ordinary times, but could be less effective in the event of broader 

financial market stress.

As of September 30, 2014, MetLife had $4 billion of outstanding synthetic GICs.48 Because 

MetLife’s insurers do not directly hold these assets, the assets are not consolidated onto 

MetLife’s balance sheet. However, synthetic GICs create exposure to MetLife for the holders of 

these instruments.

2.3 Captive Reinsurance

Reinsurance is insurance purchased by an insurance company to cover portions of risk on 

insurance policies issued by that company. Reinsurance can fall within two broad categories: 

external risk transfer through third-party reinsurers and inter-affiliate risk transfer through socalled “captive” reinsurers. In a typical captive reinsurance transaction, an insurance company 

reinsures a block of existing business through the captive, which is subject to lower reserve and 

capital requirements than the ceding insurance company.49 The Federal Insurance Office, the 

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, rating agencies, and state insurance regulators 

(independently and through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)) have 

recently focused attention on the increasing use of transactions between commercial insurance 

companies and affiliated captive reinsurers that are intended to reduce the amount of overall 

capital and reserves without actually transferring risk outside of an insurance holding company 

organization.

50 MetLife relies on internal and external financing arrangements, including 

 47 MetLife letter to SEC and CFTC regarding Stable Value Contract Study (September 26, 2011), pp. 9-10, available 

at https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/institutional-retirement/MetLifeResponseSEC-CFTC-RFIStableValueSept2011.pdf. 48 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 42. 49 See New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), “Shining a Light on Shadow Insurance” (June 2013), 

p. 1, available at http://www.dfs.ny.gov/reportpub/shadow_insurance_report_2013.pdf. 50 See Federal Insurance Office, U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Annual Report on the Insurance Industry” 

(September 2014), pp. 43-44, available at http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/fio/reports-and-
December 18, 2014

13

internal receivable assets, investment assets, and letters of credit issued by unaffiliated financial 

institutions, to provide equity and statutory capital funding to affiliated reinsurance captives.51

In the event of material financial distress at MetLife, losses for MetLife’s customers and 

counterparties through the exposure transmission channel could be exacerbated due to its use of 

captives. In addition, the potential for off–balance sheet affiliated captive exposures converting 

to funded exposures could contribute to asset liquidation risk. 

2.4 General and Separate Accounts

A life insurance company’s invested assets are held in two types of accounts: the general account 

and one or more separate accounts. The general account consists of assets and liabilities of the 

insurance company that are not allocated to separate accounts. Separate accounts consist of 

funds held by a life insurance company that are maintained separately from the insurer’s general 

assets. An insurer’s general account assets are obligated to pay claims arising from its insurance 

policies, annuity contracts, debt, derivatives, and other liabilities. By contrast, for nonguaranteed separate accounts, the investment risk is passed through to the contract holder; the 

income, gains, or losses (realized or unrealized) from assets allocated to the separate account are 

credited to or charged against the separate account. Therefore, non-guaranteed separate account 

liabilities are not generally directly exposed to the insurer’s credit risk because they are insulated 

from claims of creditors of the insurance company. However, in the case of separate account 

contracts supported by the general account through guarantees, holders of separate accounts may 

be directly exposed to the insurer’s credit risk. 

2.5 Variable Annuities 

A variable annuity is a hybrid insurance and securities contract issued by a life insurance 

company in which the purchaser pays the insurer a sum of money and the insurer promises to 

make periodic payments to the purchaser either immediately or beginning at some point in the 

future. The purchase payments often are invested in investment vehicles similar to mutual funds 

in which the purchaser allocates its money among the investment options available in the 

contract. Variable annuities commonly offer, for a fee, certain protections—commonly referred 

to as “riders” or guaranteed living benefits—for payouts, withdrawals, or account values against 

investment losses or unexpected longevity. 

MetLife is a leading variable annuity writer, ranked second in overall variable annuity assets in 

the United States, and represents approximately 10 percent of the total market share based on net 

assets.52 As of September 30, 2014, MetLife reported $100 billion of variable annuity account 

 notices/Documents/2014_Annual_Report.pdf. Ralph S. J. Koijen and Motohiro Yogo, Growing Risk in the 

Insurance Sector, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Economic Policy Paper 14-2 (March 2014), available at 

http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/eppapers/14-2/epp_14-2.pdf; Moody’s Investors Service Special Comment, 

“The Captive Triangle: Where Life Insurers’ Reserve and Capital Requirements Disappear” (August 23, 2013), pp. 

2-3; NAIC White Paper “Captives and Special Purpose Vehicles” (July 6, 2013), p. 3, available at 

http://www.naic.org/store/free/SPV-OP-13-ELS.pdf. NYDFS, “Shining a Light on Shadow Insurance” (June 2013), 

pp. 6-7, available at http://www.dfs.ny.gov/reportpub/shadow_insurance_report_

2013.pdf. 51 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 151. 52 See Investment News, “Variable Annuities” (February, 24, 2014), p. 1, available at 

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140224/CHART02/140229937/variable-annuities#.
December 18, 2014

14

values with guaranteed living benefit features and $198 billion of variable annuity account 

values with guaranteed death benefit features.53 Net amount at risk, measured by taking the 

present value of the guaranteed minimum benefit amount in excess of the current account 

balance, is a potentially useful indicator of risk in variable annuities. The net amount at risk for 

guaranteed living benefits is $1.8 billion (1.8 percent of the separate account balance of $96

billion), and the net amount at risk for guaranteed death benefits is $4.6 billion (2.8 percent of 

the separate account balance of $163 billion).54 

Guaranteed living benefits on variable annuity contracts are sensitive to changes in market 

conditions. Similar to other types of annuity contracts, the cash value of a variable annuity 

contract can be withdrawn at the discretion of the purchaser, subject to withdrawal fees. Thus, 

variable annuities, particularly those with guaranteed living benefits, are generally viewed as 

exposing the issuing insurer to broader risks than those of ordinary protection products like term 

or whole life insurance.55 While hedging can mitigate this risk for an insurer, such hedging 

activities increase a company’s complexity and interconnectedness with other financial 

institutions.

2.6 MetLife During the Recent Financial Crisis

Like many of its life insurance peers, during the financial crisis, MetLife experienced significant 

decreases in the value of its assets. MetLife’s GAAP total equity significantly decreased 

between 2007 and the first quarter of 2009, due in part to the reduced value of the company’s 

fixed income portfolio.56 Among life insurers, in 2008, MetLife had the second largest amount 

of unrealized losses, and in 2009, MetLife’s unrealized losses amounted to 22.5 percent of all 

unrealized losses among life insurers.

57 Although a substantial portion of the decreases in the 

value of its assets remained unrealized, this experience is indicative of both the scale of 

MetLife’s investments and also the extent to which the value of that portfolio can fall. 

MetLife had a variety of available funding options during the financial crisis. At the time, 

MetLife was a bank holding company, which gave the company access to a range of liquidity 

and capital sources made available to banking entities. MetLife did use several emergency 

federal government-sponsored facilities. During 2008 and 2009, MetLife’s subsidiary bank 

accessed the Federal Reserve Term Auction Facility 19 times for a total of $17.6 billion in 28-

day loans and $1.3 billion in 84-day loans.58 In March 2009, MetLife raised $397 million 

through the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program run by the Federal Deposit Insurance 

 53 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 20. 54 Because annuity and life contracts with guarantees may offer more than one type of guarantee in each contract 

(e.g., both living and death benefits), the amounts may not be mutually exclusive. MetLife Quarterly Report on 

Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 20. 55 See A.M. Best, “Special Report: U.S. Life/Annuity - Issue Review. Rating Factors for Organizations Using Life

Captive Reinsurers” (October 28, 2013), available at http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=

218101&AltSrc=26. 56 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, p. 4; MetLife Quarterly Report on 

Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2007, p. 4. 57 See Government Accountability Office (GAO), “Impacts of and Regulatory Response to the 2007-2009 Financial 

Crisis,” GAO-13-583 (June 2013), p. 67. 58 See Board of Governors, Term Auction Facility (August 2013), available at http://www.federalreserve.gov/

newsevents/reform_taf.htm.
December 18, 2014

15

Corporation (FDIC), which enabled the organization to borrow funds at a lower rate than it 

otherwise would have been able to obtain.59 Additionally, MetLife borrowed $1.6 billion 

through the Federal Reserve’s Commercial Paper Funding Facility.60

MetLife also accessed the capital markets beyond the use of TLGP during the crisis. Notably, 

the company was able to raise additional capital via debt and equity issuances between April

2008 and July 2009.

61

3. ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF MATERIAL FINANCIAL DISTRESS

AT METLIFE

3.1 Transmission Channel Analysis

3.1.1 Overview

Consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act and the Interpretive Guidance, the Council evaluated the 

extent to which material financial distress at MetLife could be transmitted to other financial 

firms and markets and thereby pose a threat to U.S. financial stability through the following three 

transmission channels: (1) the exposures of counterparties, creditors, investors, and other market 

participants to MetLife; (2) the liquidation of assets by MetLife, which could trigger a fall in 

asset prices and thereby could significantly disrupt trading or funding in key markets or cause 

significant losses or funding problems for other firms with similar holdings; and (3) the inability 

or unwillingness of MetLife to provide a critical function or service relied upon by market 

participants and for which there are no ready substitutes. In evaluating whether material 

financial distress at MetLife could be transmitted to other firms and markets through the 

transmission channels to a degree that could cause a broader impairment of financial 

intermediation or of financial market functioning, the Council considered the statutory factors set 

forth in section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Act. 

In light of MetLife’s size, leverage, interconnectedness with other large financial firms and 

financial markets, provision of products that may be surrendered for cash at the discretion of its 

institutional and retail contract holders and policyholders, and impediments to its rapid and 

orderly resolution, material financial distress at MetLife could have significant adverse effects on 

a broad range of financial firms and financial markets, and could lead to an impairment of 

financial intermediation or financial market functioning that could be sufficiently severe to inflict 

significant damage on the economy. Accordingly, the Council has determined that material 

financial distress at MetLife could pose a threat to U.S. financial stability. The Council 

considered a broad range of information in its analysis. No single consideration was 

determinative in the Council’s evaluation, but the following explanation describes important 

factors considered in the Council’s determination regarding MetLife.

 59 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, p. 18. 60 See Board of Governors, Commercial Paper Funding Facility (August 2013), available at 

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/reform_cpff.htm. 61 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, p. 7; MetLife Annual Report on 

Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, pp. 67, 94.
December 18, 2014

16

The threat to U.S. financial stability that could be posed by MetLife’s material financial distress 

arises primarily from the exposure and asset liquidation transmission channels, although under 

certain circumstances the critical function or service channel may exacerbate the extent to which 

the company’s material financial distress could be transmitted to the broader financial system

and economy. In addition, MetLife’s complexity, intra-firm connections, and potential difficulty 

to resolve, aggravate the risk that the company’s material financial distress could materially 

impair financial intermediation and financial market functioning. 

• Large financial intermediaries have significant exposures to MetLife arising from the 

company’s institutional products and capital markets activities, such as funding 

agreements, general and separate account GICs, pension closeouts, securities lending 

agreements, and outstanding indebtedness. The company’s material financial distress 

could also expose certain of MetLife’s approximately 100 million62 worldwide 

policyholders and contract holders to losses. 

• If MetLife were to experience material financial distress, it could be forced to liquidate 

assets to meet its obligations to counterparties, contract holders, and policyholders. A 

potential liquidity strain could arise from MetLife’s institutional and capital markets 

products that are subject to early termination or non-renewal at the option of 

counterparties, or from the substantial portion of the company’s insurance liabilities that 

policyholders can surrender in exchange for cash value. In lieu of surrender, and as 

required by state laws, for life insurance products that accrue a cash value (such as

universal and whole life insurance policies), policyholders may also borrow against their 

outstanding policies.63 A large-scale forced liquidation of MetLife’s large portfolio of 

relatively illiquid assets, including corporate debt and asset-backed securities (ABS),

could disrupt trading or funding markets. The potential for a forced asset liquidation 

could be exacerbated by MetLife’s leverage, which is among the highest of its peers. 

• MetLife has a leading position in several important financial markets, including life 

insurance, retirement products, and commercial real estate lending. While the 

transmission of stress could be aggravated through the critical function and service 

channel, particularly in a period of macroeconomic stress and broader pullbacks by other 

market participants in the markets in which MetLife is a key player, the company’s 

participation in these markets does not generally appear large enough to cause a 

significant disruption in the provision of services if the company were to experience 

material financial distress.

The Council’s final determination does not constitute a conclusion that MetLife is experiencing, 

or is likely to experience, material financial distress. Rather, consistent with the statutory 

standard for determinations by the Council under section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the 

Council has determined that material financial distress at the company, if it were to occur, could 

pose a threat to U.S. financial stability. 

 62 MetLife, “MetLife in the World,” available at 

https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/iws/hp/about/MetLifeCorporateFactSheet.pdf (accessed December 7, 2014). 63 See, e.g., 18 Del. C. 2911(a) (2014); Ohio Rev. Code Ann. 3915.05(G) (West 2014); N.J. Stat. Ann. 17B:25-8 

(West 2014); N.Y. Ins. Law 3203(8)(A) (McKinney 2014); S.C. Code Ann. 38-63-220(l) (2014). 
December 18, 2014

17

3.1.2 Exposure Transmission Channel

The exposure to a nonbank financial company that is significant enough to materially impair 

creditors, counterparties, investors, or other market participants and thereby pose a threat to U.S. 

financial stability is one of the three channels identified by the Council as most likely to facilitate 

the transmission of the negative effects of a nonbank financial company’s material financial 

distress or activities to other financial firms or markets. The direct and indirect exposures64 of 

MetLife’s creditors, counterparties, investors, policyholders, and other market participants to 

MetLife are significant enough that MetLife’s material financial distress could materially impair 

those entities or the financial markets in which they participate, and thereby could pose a threat 

to U.S. financial stability.

Institutional and Capital Markets Exposures

Large financial intermediaries, including global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) and 

global systemically important insurers (G-SIIs), have significant exposures and interconnections 

to MetLife through its institutional products and capital markets activities. MetLife’s capital 

markets activities, including securities lending and outstanding indebtedness, create significant 

exposures to the company, including exposures among G-SIBs and G-SIIs. In addition, large 

financial intermediaries and other companies have significant exposures to MetLife arising from 

the company’s institutional products, such as general and separate account GICs, funding 

agreements, and pension closeouts.

As described above, for institutional customers, MetLife offers various insurance, annuity, and 

investment products that include GICs, funding agreements, other stable value products, and 

separate account contracts for the investment management of defined benefit and defined 

contribution plan assets. In addition, MetLife provides institutions with products to fund postretirement benefits and COLI, BOLI, ICOLI, and TOLI for certain corporate employees. Many

of MetLife’s institutional products are in separate accounts, but guarantees for these products 

(for example, minimum value guarantees) are obligations of the general account and therefore 

are reliant on MetLife’s financial strength. If MetLife were to experience material financial 

distress, it may be unable to honor the guarantees on these institutional products, potentially 

exposing holders or beneficiaries of these products to losses. 

Although some of the exposures from MetLife’s institutional products for group plans may be 

dispersed among individual policyholders, material financial distress at MetLife could force 

pension plans and other institutional users of these products to write down certain of their assets 

from book value to market value, which could result in significant costs for the pension plans 

and potentially also for their institutional sponsors. Additionally, policyholders with investments 

held in separate accounts have exposures to MetLife arising from minimum value guarantees or 

 64 For the purposes of the Council’s analysis, “direct exposures” generally refer to exposures of MetLife’s 

counterparties or investors that arise directly from the transactional relationship with MetLife. “Indirect exposures” 

generally refer to exposures of market participants that do not arise from direct exposures, and may encompass a 

market participant’s potential losses arising from its exposures to other firms that have direct exposures to MetLife. 

For example, a firm may be impaired through indirect exposures if its counterparties are unable to satisfy their 

obligations due to losses from direct exposures to MetLife.
December 18, 2014

18

stable value guarantees covering the amount of any deficiency if the market value of separate 

account assets falls below the guaranteed level.

Through these institutional products and other activities of MetLife, including the company’s

capital markets activities, a large number of major financial institutions and corporations are 

significantly interconnected with and exposed to MetLife. In the event of MetLife’s material 

financial distress, these exposures could impair the ability of those firms to provide financial 

services and result in a contraction in the supply of financial services that could negatively affect

financial market functioning.

The sources of these exposures include MetLife’s outstanding GICs. As of December 31, 2013, 

MetLife had approximately $6 billion of traditional GICs outstanding.65 MetLife had $42 billion 

of separate account liabilities with guarantees, some of which are separate account GICs.66 As 

of September 30, 2014, MetLife had approximately $4 billion of outstanding synthetic GICs.

67

(MetLife’s GICs and synthetic GICs are described in section 2.2.4.) 

MetLife is also a participant in the pension closeouts and structured settlements markets, and 

payments to beneficiaries could be interrupted or reduced in the event of MetLife’s material 

financial distress. In addition, as of March 31, 2014, MetLife manages over $18 billion of BOLI, 

COLI, and ICOLI, which expose beneficiaries or guarantors to losses if the market value of the 

assets were less than the guaranteed value.68

Market participants are also directly and indirectly exposed to MetLife as a result of its capital 

markets activities. Estimated capital markets exposures to MetLife include $16 billion of 

outstanding long-term debt;69 $3 billion of junior subordinated debt;

70 approximately $30 billion 

of securities lending agreements;71 $5 billion of derivatives liabilities;72 $16 billion of unsecured 

credit and committed facilities;73 approximately $52 billion of funding agreement–backed 

securities, Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) financing, and other obligations;74 and $4 billion of 

net notional single-name credit default swaps where MetLife serves as the reference entity.

75 

The market capitalization of MetLife’s common shares outstanding was approximately 

$61 billion as of September 30, 2014, but exposures to MetLife arising from its outstanding 

equity securities do not appear to be a significant direct source of risk to U.S. financial stability.

 65 SNL Financial, data as of December 31, 2013. Based on statutory data, SNL Life Group, Exhibit 7, Deposit type 

contracts (GI Contracts).

66 SNL Financial, data as of December 31, 2013. Based on statutory data, SNL Life Group, Note 32, Analysis of 

Annuity Actuarial Reserves and Deposit Type Liabilities by Withdrawal Characteristics. 67 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 42. 68 See MetLife, COLI/BOLI overview, available at https://www.metlife.com/institutional-retirement/plansponsors/coli-boli/index.html?WT.ac=GN_institutional-retirement_plan-sponsors_coli-boli#overview. 69 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 4. 70 Id. 71 Id. at p. 31. 72 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 42. 73 Id. at p. 171. 74 Id. at p. 170. 75 See Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Table 6 as of September 26, 2014, available at 

http://www.dtcc.com/products/derivserv/data/index.php.
December 18, 2014

19

As of September 30, 2014, MetLife maintained two unsecured credit facilities totaling $4 billion 

and committed facilities aggregating $12 billion.76 The unsecured credit facilities are used for 

general corporate purposes, and the committed facilities are used for collateral for certain of 

MetLife’s affiliated reinsurance liabilities.

77 Under the company’s committed facilities, 

$6.6 billion in LOCs and $2.8 billion in aggregate drawdowns under collateral financing 

agreements were outstanding.78 

In addition, a significant portion of MetLife’s securities lending counterparties are firms whose 

interconnectedness with the broader financial system could amplify the effect of any losses. 

MetLife generally lends securities in exchange for cash collateral representing 102 percent of the 

value of the securities.79 MetLife uses the cash collateral to purchase additional securities, which 

can be less liquid than the securities lent.80 MetLife reinvests the cash collateral in securities, 

including ABS, RMBS (residential mortgage-backed securities), CMBS (commercial mortgagebacked securities), U.S. and foreign corporate securities, and U.S. Treasury and agency 

securities.81 If MetLife were to experience material financial distress, its securities lending 

counterparties, particularly those counterparties holding lower-quality securities (compared with 

Treasury securities), could have an incentive to close out transactions as quickly as possible in 

order to withdraw cash collateral and reduce exposure to MetLife or to the borrowed securities. 

More generally, to avoid market concerns regarding their own financial condition, counterparties 

and other institutional customers may have an incentive to reduce exposures and disclose the 

limited extent to which they have a financial relationship with the firm in material financial 

distress. 

MetLife’s gross notional amount of derivatives outstanding as of September 30, 2014, was 

$406 billion. MetLife’s derivatives portfolio includes interest rate derivatives (63 percent by 

gross notional amount, as of September 30, 2014), equity derivatives (17 percent), foreign 

exchange derivatives (16 percent), and credit derivatives (3 percent).82 MetLife uses equity 

derivatives and other derivatives to hedge variable annuity guarantees.

83

Some counterparties’ exposures to MetLife may be material relative to their equity capital, while 

others are smaller. MetLife’s derivatives counterparties, creditors, debt holders, and securities 

lending and repurchase agreement counterparties include other large financial intermediaries that 

are interconnected with one another and the rest of the financial sector. Exposures of these large 

financial firms to MetLife could result in direct losses to those firms as a result of MetLife’s 

material financial distress. For example, at the beginning of 2013, money market mutual funds 

(MMFs) held over 50 percent of MetLife’s FABCP, and a maximum of 65 MMFs could “break 

the buck” if MetLife were to default on its funding agreement–backed securities.

84 As witnessed 

 76 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 171. 77 Id. 78 Id. 79 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 131. 80 Id. at p. 44. 81 MLIC of the State of New York, Statutory Filing for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 19.7. 82 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 42. 83 See MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 147. 84 Data are as of October 31, 2013, from Securities and Exchange Commission Form N-MFP and Council analysis. 

An MMF has “broken the buck” (i.e., re-priced its securities below $1.00 per share) if it is unable to maintain a 
December 18, 2014

20

during the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when one MMF breaks the buck, a broader run on MMFs 

can be triggered. Such an event could lead investors to withdraw from short-term funding 

markets more broadly, which could impair the ability of large financial firms to serve as financial 

intermediaries.

The exposures discussed above reflect aggregate gross exposures and do not incorporate the 

potential mitigating effects from the collateralization of exposures or potential recovery rates.

However, a consideration of aggregate gross exposure estimates is relevant because, among 

other things, it assists in an analysis of the company’s interconnectedness and with a 

comparison of exposures to MetLife with exposures to other financial institutions. Further, 

exposures to MetLife, even when calculated taking these mitigating factors into account, are 

substantial and could lead the company’s material financial distress to pose a threat to U.S. 

financial stability. 

Exposure of U.S. Policyholders and the Guaranty Associations

Retail policyholders are also directly exposed to MetLife. MetLife has approximately 

100 million customers worldwide.

85 MetLife’s material financial distress could directly expose 

certain of these policyholders and contract holders to losses, particularly those who hold products 

with cash values and guaranteed benefit features. Retail policies are typically long-term 

liabilities realized over time, which may minimize the potential impact in any given year. 

Further, state guaranty and security fund associations (GAs) may mitigate some U.S.

policyholder losses from certain insurance and annuity products in the event of insolvency of the 

insurance company issuing those products. Although the GAs could mitigate some policyholder 

losses, the GAs only cover certain products and policies up to the point of state-specific coverage 

limits.86 Moreover, due to MetLife’s size, scope, the withdrawal features of some of its life 

insurance and annuity offerings, and broad national presence, the GAs could have insufficient 

capacity to handle a resolution of one of MetLife’s lead insurers, and the liquidation of MetLife’s 

large insurer subsidiaries could strain the GAs’ capacity for many years. The total annual GA 

assessment capacities of all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico were 

 

stable net asset value (NAV) per share based on pricing of its portfolio holdings. On July 23, 2014, the SEC 

adopted MMF reforms that include a floating-NAV requirement for institutional prime MMFs. The MMF reforms 

do not require a floating NAV for certain funds, including retail MMFs. After the SEC’s adoption of those reforms, 

the Council stated that it intends to monitor the effectiveness of the SEC’s reforms in addressing risks to financial 

stability.

85 MetLife, “MetLife in the World,” available at https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/iws/hp/about/

MetLifeCorporateFactSheet.pdf. 86 States have determined the level of protection to be afforded to their respective residents. For example, GA 

benefit protection for life insurance death benefits is capped at $300,000 in 44 states and the District of Columbia 

and $500,000 in six states. Life insurance cash value coverage is capped at $100,000 in 41 states and the District of 

Columbia, while nine states set cash value coverage at various levels above $100,000. The coverage cap for annuity 

benefits is at least $250,000 in most states; it is $100,000 in two states and Puerto Rico, $300,000 in eight states and 

the District of Columbia, and $500,000 in four states. See “The Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association 

System: The Nation’s Safety Net,” 2014 Edition, National Organization of Life and Health Guaranty Associations 

(NOLHGA), available at https://www.nolhga.com/factsandfigures/main.cfm. Other products, particularly those for 

defined benefit plans, may be covered by GAs, but because the coverage limit may apply to the entire retirement 

plan, not each plan participant, the coverage level may be small relative to the size of the contract. Certain 

institutional products, such as stable value wraps, generally are not covered by GAs.
December 18, 2014

21

$2.9 billion for life insurance and $3.4 billion for annuities as of December 31, 2012.87 The 

exposures of MetLife’s individual policyholders and institutional customers could cause 

MetLife’s material financial distress to impair those entities and affect financial market 

functioning and the economy.

Aggregate Exposures and the Risk of Contagion

The negative effects resulting from the material financial distress or failure of a large, 

interconnected financial firm such as MetLife are not limited to the amount of direct losses 

suffered by any one of the firm’s counterparties, creditors, and customers. MetLife’s material 

financial distress could indirectly affect other firms due to market uncertainty about their

exposures to MetLife and the potential impact of such exposures on the financial health of 

those firms, their counterparties, or the financial markets in which they participate. This type 

of uncertainty can lead market participants to pull back from a range of firms and markets, in 

order to reduce exposures, thereby increasing the potential for destabilization. In the event of 

MetLife’s material financial distress, large and leveraged counterparties with direct or indirect 

exposures to MetLife could engage in behavior that results in a contraction in financial activity 

by those counterparties as well as others.

3.1.3 Asset Liquidation Transmission Channel

The second channel identified by the Council as most likely to facilitate the transmission of the 

negative effects of a nonbank financial company’s material financial distress or activities to 

other financial firms or markets is if the company holds a large amount of assets that, if 

liquidated quickly, could significantly disrupt the operation of key markets or cause significant

losses or funding problems for other firms with similar holdings. During a period of overall 

stress in the financial services industry and in a weak macroeconomic environment, a 

deterioration in asset prices or market functioning could pressure other financial firms to sell 

their holdings of affected assets in order to maintain adequate capital and liquidity. This, in 

turn, could produce a cycle of asset sales that could lead to further market disruptions. 

In addition, if MetLife were to experience material financial distress, it could be forced to 

liquidate assets to meet its obligations to counterparties, contract holders, and policyholders. In 

order to meet a rapid increase in liquidity demand, MetLife could be forced to sell assets at 

discount prices, which could impair financial intermediation or financial market functioning. 

There are two primary sources of potential liquidity strains that could cause or contribute to a

forced asset liquidation by MetLife: institutional and capital markets products that can be 

terminated or not renewed by the counterparty, and insurance-related liabilities that can be 

withdrawn or surrendered by the contract holder or policyholder. First, if MetLife experienced 

material financial distress, it could be forced to sell assets in response to investors’ refusal to 

rollover some of its approximately $35 billion of FABCP and FABNs outstanding,

88 or due to 

 87 Assessment capacity is based on written premium volume. See NOLHGA, “Nationwide Capacity, Assessments 

Called and Refunded Summary” (October 28, 2013), available at http://www.nolhga.com/

resource/file/capacity/2012/R1%20Nationwide%20Capacity,%20Assessments%20Called%20and%20Refunded%20

Summary.pdf. 88 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 170.
December 18, 2014

22

early returns of securities borrowed in connection with its approximately $30 billion89 securities 

lending program. 

As described above, in its securities lending program, MetLife’s insurance company subsidiaries 

lend securities to third parties in exchange for cash collateral. MetLife generally receives cash 

collateral equal to at least 102 percent of the fair market value of the lent security.90 MetLife 

uses the cash collateral it receives to purchase securities that can be less liquid than the lent 

securities and have longer maturities than the duration of the underlying securities loans. This 

maturity mismatch results in liquidity risk for MetLife.91 In the event of MetLife’s material 

financial distress, liquidity risk would be increased if its counterparties were to close out their 

transactions early by returning the borrowed securities to MetLife in order to recoup their cash 

collateral. In addition, a portion of MetLife’s securities lending program is funded with proceeds 

from the sale of FABNs, which exposes the company to the liquidity risks associated with the 

actions of securities borrowers as well as potential risks associated with the FABN investors’ 

non-renewal of maturing FABNs.

The second source of potential liquidity strains that could cause or contribute to a forced asset 

liquidation by MetLife is the portion of the company’s retail insurance and annuity products that 

can be surrendered or withdrawn for cash. While many insurance liabilities are long-term and 

cannot be withdrawn or converted to cash at the discretion of the policyholder or contract holder, 

other insurance liabilities relate to products that have been designed and purchased as savings or 

investment products and have contractual terms that allow varying levels of discretionary 

withdrawals. The simplest life insurance product, term life insurance, is purely a protection 

product that does not allow policyholders to withdraw cash immediately or to surrender their 

policies for a cash value; as a result, it does not pose a run risk.

92 On the other end of the 

spectrum are products that can generally be surrendered by a policyholder or contract holder 

upon demand, for cash, with minimal penalty or adjustment. 

MetLife provides products across this spectrum. At year-end 2013, of the $308 billion in general 

account liabilities of MetLife’s U.S. insurance operating companies, approximately $49 billion 

may be withdrawn with little or no penalty.93 A portion of the cash value of these liabilities is 

available for discretionary withdrawal through policy loans and partial or full surrenders with 

little or no penalty and therefore could, in some circumstances, take on characteristics of shortterm liabilities. Although these products generally are considered to be long-term liabilities and 

a number of these products include provisions that are designed to disincentivize withdrawals, 

such as penalties and loss of guarantee accumulation, these disincentives could serve as less of a 

deterrent if MetLife’s ability to meet its obligations were in doubt. Upon requests for early 

withdrawal or surrender of some portion of these products, an insurer may find it necessary to 

liquidate securities in its investment portfolio to generate the cash required to meet those 

 89 Id. at p. 174. 

90 Id. at p. 152.

91 MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 44.

92 See McMenamin, Robert, Zain Mohey-Deen, Anna Paulson, and Richard Rosen, “How Liquid Are U.S. Life 

Insurance Liabilities?”, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Chicago Fed Letter, No. 302 (2012).

93 SNL Financial, data as of December 31, 2013. Based on statutory data, SNL Life Group, Note 32, Analysis of 

Annuity Actuarial Reserves and Deposit Type Liabilities by Withdrawal Characteristics.
December 18, 2014

23

requests. Further, in lieu of surrenders, some policyholders may opt for partial surrenders or 

policy loans to reduce the impact of the contractual disincentives while still withdrawing 

available cash from their policies. 

The potential for withdrawals could increase in the event that MetLife experiences material 

financial distress, as concerns about the company’s ability to meet future obligations could 

induce large numbers of policyholders and contract holders to use or accelerate contractual cash 

withdrawals or policy loans. 

Approximately $206 billion of MetLife’s separate account liabilities can also be withdrawn or 

transferred, although separate account contract holders generally have stronger disincentives to 

surrender than general account policyholders.94 

MetLife’s insurance company subsidiaries have the contractual right to defer payouts for up to 

six months on many of the immediately payable cash surrender values associated with their 

products.95 Further, state insurance regulators could impose stays on policyholder withdrawals 

and surrenders. An insurance company-imposed moratorium would delay the exercise of certain 

types of contract holder withdrawal or surrender options available based on contractual features. 

However, MetLife’s insurance company subsidiaries could have disincentives to invoke these 

options because of the negative signal regarding the company’s financial strength that could be 

sent to counterparties, policyholders, and investors as a result of such actions. Surrenders and 

policy loan rates could increase if MetLife’s policyholders feared that stays were likely to be 

imposed either by MetLife’s insurance company subsidiaries or by their state insurance 

regulators.

While the exercise of contractual deferral provisions, combined with operational and logistical 

considerations, could slow any asset liquidation well beyond seven days, moratoria on outflows 

would not necessarily mitigate the liquidity pressure on MetLife in the event that the 

organization experiences material financial distress. For example, if MetLife exercised its 

contractual deferrals at a time when MetLife was experiencing material financial distress, the 

suspension of insurance and annuity product contract outflows through contractual provisions 

could spread concern regarding MetLife’s financial condition more broadly in the marketplace, 

which could lead to further liquidity demands as, for example, securities lending counterparties, 

funding agreement–backed securities investors, and other policyholders with surrenderable 

liabilities seek to reduce their exposures to MetLife. These increased liquidity demands could 

prompt additional asset liquidations. 

 94 Id. 95 Insurance companies may be able to delay payment of some withdrawable liabilities. For example, the NYDFS 

has for many years required all insurers writing business in the state of New York to include a contractual provision 

allowing the insurer to impose a stay on outflows connected with an insurance policy or contract. See sections 4221 

and 4223 of the New York State Insurance Code pertaining to individual policies and contracts (non-variable); see

also New York Regulations 47 and 77 for individual variable annuity and individual variable life contracts, 

respectively, at New York Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 11, §§ 50.7(a)(4), 54.6(b)(8)(ii). With respect to group 

contracts, deferral provisions are typically agreed to by the parties to the contracts. Additionally, state insurance 

regulators’ authorities permit the suspension of certain payment outflows in situations where the regulators have

taken control of an insurance company in receivership. 
December 18, 2014

24

Further, the imposition of a suspension of insurance policy and annuity product surrender or 

withdrawal options could cause uncertainty to spread to the customers of other insurance 

companies offering similar products and could undermine confidence in the broader life

insurance industry. If such a situation were to occur during a period of overall stress in the 

financial services industry and in a weak macroeconomic environment, surrenders at other life 

insurers could increase, particularly if MetLife’s material financial distress were related to a 

broader economic shock or market event, such as an interest rate spike or impairments in a 

widely held asset class. 

MetLife’s portfolio of highly liquid assets may not be sufficient to avoid sales of less-liquid 

assets in order to meet increased liquidity demands. At least $37 billion of MetLife’s invested

assets are encumbered.

96 MetLife may be unable to quickly sell those assets.

In such a scenario, a large-scale forced liquidation of MetLife’s assets could cause significant 

disruptions to key markets, including corporate debt and ABS markets. MetLife has substantial 

holdings of various assets that are relatively illiquid.97 For example, U.S. corporate fixed income 

securities represent the largest category of MetLife’s assets, and its holdings represent over four 

days of average daily trading volume (ADTV).98 In addition, as of September 30, 2014, 

MetLife’s general account assets invested in U.S. ABS represented over 12 days of the market’s 

ADTV.99 Liquidity in the corporate debt and ABS markets has demonstrated the potential to 

significantly decrease in a period of overall stress in the financial sector and in a weak 

macroeconomic environment. The large size of these portfolios could make it difficult to 

liquidate the associated assets, if needed, and any liquidation could put significant pressure on 

market prices, causing significant losses for other firms with similar holdings. Resulting price 

dislocations in debt markets could cause significant disruptions in critical funding markets relied 

upon by the largest and most leveraged financial firms, and in the availability of funding for the 

broader U.S. economy. 

A forced asset liquidation could be exacerbated by the scale and composition of MetLife’s 

financial and operating leverage. MetLife’s leverage ratio is among the highest of its peers. 

MetLife has significant operating debt compared to its peers, largely related to its institutional 

investment products. MetLife’s operating leverage ratio was driven largely by liabilities from its 

securities lending activities (approximately $30 billion),100 FHLB borrowings ($15 billion),101

 96 See MLIC of the State of New York, Statutory Filing for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 19.8; MetLife 

Investors USA Insurance Company, Statutory Filing for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, p. Q07.4. 97 As of September 30, 2014, MetLife held $108 billion of U.S corporate securities at fair value, and $70 billion of 

asset-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities at fair value. MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for 

the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 22. 98 Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), “Statistics,” available at http://www.sifma.org/

research/statistics.aspx. 99 Id. 100 MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 174. 101 Id. at p. 170.
December 18, 2014

25

general account traditional GICs ($6 billion),102 and funding agreement–backed securities and 

other funding agreements ($37 billion).103 

Moreover, the severity of the disruption caused by a forced liquidation of MetLife’s assets could 

be amplified by the fact that the investment portfolios of many large insurance companies are 

composed of similar assets, which could cause significant losses for those firms. Significant 

outflows from MetLife could also put other large life insurers that may also be perceived as 

vulnerable at risk of similar outflows. The potential erosion of capital and de-leveraging could 

result in asset fire sales that could disrupt financial market functioning and that could ultimately

damage the broader economy. 

3.1.4 Critical Function or Service Transmission Channel

MetLife operates in a range of insurance, risk transfer, and capital markets, and has a leading 

position in several of the key markets in which it offers products or otherwise participates, 

including life insurance, retirement products, and commercial real estate lending. The company 

is the leader in the life and health insurance market, with a market share of approximately 15

percent based on premiums written.104 MetLife is also a significant participant in the corporate 

benefit funding and annuity product markets. As noted above, MetLife is ranked second in 

overall variable annuity assets in the United States, and represents approximately 10 percent of 

the total market share based on net assets.105 Additionally, MetLife operates lines of business 

that provide credit to households, businesses, agricultural enterprises, and state and local 

governments, while also serving as a federal government contractor and a provider of credit to 

low-income, minority, or underserved communities. 

While the withdrawal of a market leader such as MetLife from so many business lines could 

aggravate the transmission of MetLife’s material financial distress through the critical function 

or service channel, most of the key insurance markets in which MetLife operates appear to be 

competitive, and other firms would likely be able to absorb the increased demand for products 

and services if MetLife ceased to offer them. MetLife’s shares in these generally fragmented and 

competitive markets do not appear large enough to cause a significant disruption in the provision 

of services if the company were to experience material financial distress and were unable or 

unwilling to provide services. Certain markets in which MetLife is a significant participant are 

more concentrated and potentially less substitutable, such as the corporate benefit funding 

market, but MetLife’s participation in these markets has fluctuated considerably. In addition, it 

is unclear whether these markets are sufficiently large or interconnected with the broader 

financial system such that MetLife’s withdrawal from these markets could pose a threat to U.S. 

 102 SNL Financial, data as of December 31, 2013. Based on statutory data, SNL Life Group, Exhibit 7, Deposit type 

contracts (GI Contracts).

103 The funding agreement–backed securities and other funding agreements amount includes special purpose entity 

funding agreements ($34.5 billion) and Farmer Mac funding agreements ($2.8 billion). MetLife Quarterly Report 

on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 170. 104 See Federal Insurance Office, U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Annual Report on the Insurance Industry” 

(September 2014), p. 9, available at http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/fio/reports-andnotices/Documents/2014_Annual_Report.pdf. 105 See Investment News, “Variable Annuities” (February, 24, 2014), p. 1, available at 

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20140224/CHART02/140229937/variable-annuities#.
December 18, 2014

26

financial stability. Nevertheless, under certain market conditions, the transmission of stress 

through this transmission channel could be aggravated, particularly in a period of 

macroeconomic stress and broader pullbacks by other market participants in the markets in 

which MetLife is a key player.

3.2 Existing Supervision and Regulation

In considering whether to make a final determination regarding MetLife, the Council considered 

the degree to which MetLife is already regulated by one or more primary financial regulatory 

agencies.106 The Council also consulted with certain regulators of MetLife or its insurance 

company subsidiaries before making a final determination regarding the company. 

MetLife is currently not subject to consolidated supervision. The company’s subsidiaries are 

subject to supervision by a number of U.S. and international regulators.107 MetLife’s insurance 

company subsidiaries are subject to supervision by regulators in all 50 U.S. states, the District of 

Columbia, the five U.S. territories, and numerous foreign countries.108 As of December 31, 

2013, MetLife’s primary U.S. insurance regulators for its life insurance and annuity products 

businesses are the NYDFS, the Connecticut Insurance Department, and the Delaware 

Department of Insurance.

A state insurance regulator supervises numerous aspects of a licensed entity’s operations, 

including solvency; pricing and products; investments; reinsurance; reserves; asset-liability 

matching; transactions with affiliates; use of derivatives; and management. State insurance 

regulators also have examination authorities. In the United States, MetLife’s insurance company 

subsidiaries are subject to state-based, legal entity regulation. All 50 U.S. states, the District of 

Columbia, and Puerto Rico are currently accredited under the NAIC’s Financial Regulation 

Standards and Accreditation Program, which requires regulators to demonstrate that they have 

adequate administrative authority to regulate an insurer’s corporate and financial affairs. 

Insurance companies are required to prepare financial data and submit quarterly and annual 

financial statements on the basis of SAP and to provide information describing the businesses 

and financial matters in which they are engaged. This legal entity–based regulatory reporting 

regime is used by state insurance regulators to monitor the financial health of state-licensed 

insurers through quarterly and annual analyses, and on-site examinations are performed at least 

once every five years.109 Financial examinations are generally conducted on the basis of 

financial information covering a period of up to five calendar years prior to the examination asof date. 

 106 See Dodd-Frank Act section 113(a)(2)(H), 12 U.S.C. § 5323(a)(2)(H). 107 In the United States, insurance companies are licensed and regulated by the chief insurance regulatory authorities 

of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories. These authorities are members of the NAIC. 

Primary (or lead) state regulatory authorities for multi-state insurers are determined by state insurance regulatory 

members of the NAIC. 

108 MetLife’s foreign subsidiaries are regulated by the regulatory authorities in those host countries.

109 For any insurer deemed a troubled company, the reporting, analysis, and examinations are increased in frequency 

and depth. 
December 18, 2014

27

State insurance regulators have a range of authorities. Certain of these authorities are described 

below. For example, in addition to the regulator’s financial analysis and examination authorities, 

an early intervention tool may be available to certain state insurance regulators if the state 

insurance regulator finds that an insurer is in hazardous financial condition. The nature of 

intervention could include requiring an insurer to increase capital and surplus, requiring an 

insurer to file financial reports and a business plan, or a range of other corrective actions. 

Another example of state insurance regulatory authority is risk-based capital (RBC) 

requirements, a capital measurement tool designed to help state insurance regulators detect when 

progressively more intense levels of intervention may be appropriate. The RBC framework 

involves calculation of a legal entity-level capital position using a formula specific to the 

insurance sector within which an insurance company operates and yields the minimum capital 

standard for an insurance entity. The RBC framework establishes an objective standard for 

triggering regulatory action when an insurer’s RBC ratio falls below certain levels, although 

insufficient RBC is not the only factor that can be used by a state regulator to intervene when an 

insurance company is in financial distress. Many variables influence whether, when, and how a 

state regulator could intervene in the distress of one of MetLife’s insurers. 

While one or more of the state regulators’ authorities may be effective in mitigating the risks 

arising from an insurance company, these authorities have never been tested by the material 

financial distress of an insurance company of the size, scope, and complexity of MetLife’s 

insurance subsidiaries. 

While the state insurance regulators have authority over MetLife’s insurance subsidiaries

domiciled in their respective states, state insurance regulators generally do not have direct 

authority to require a non-mutual holding company of a state-licensed insurer or any noninsurance company subsidiary to take or not take actions outside of the insurer for the purpose of 

safety and soundness of the insurer or for the avoidance of risks from activities that could result

in adverse effects on U.S. financial stability. Also, state regulators do not have direct authority 

relative to MetLife’s international insurance activities. 

State regulators and regulators in other countries are also currently involved in the regulatory 

oversight of MetLife’s captive reinsurance companies, which reinsure risk from affiliated 

companies. As described above, MetLife’s use of captive reinsurance subsidiaries generally 

enables the company to hold lower-quality capital and lower reserves than would otherwise be 

required, which creates a greater risk that MetLife could be required to liquidate assets to satisfy 

an increase in demand for liquidity. 

For U.S.-domiciled insurance holding companies with operations in multiple jurisdictions, state

insurance regulators may convene “supervisory colleges” on a periodic basis. These supervisory 

colleges are non-public regulator forums that may meet in session on an annual or semi-annual

basis. They include the state insurance regulators of the largest insurance company subsidiaries 

in an insurance holding company and regulators responsible for supervising insurance 

subsidiaries in other countries, as well as regulatory agencies that may be responsible for 

supervising the company’s non-insurer affiliates. While supervisory colleges may allow state 

insurance regulators to monitor other parts of an insurance organization, and may enhance 

communications of confidential supervisory concerns across an enterprise, they are not 

equivalent to the supervisory and regulatory authorities to which a nonbank financial company 

that the Council determines shall be subject to supervision by the Board of Governors and 
December 18, 2014

28

enhanced prudential standards is subject, nor do they have direct supervisory authority over the 

holding company or its non-insurance subsidiaries.

MetLife’s non-insurance subsidiaries include broker-dealers (regulated by the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and registered 

investment advisers (regulated by the SEC). MetLife issues variable annuity contracts and 

variable life insurance policies through separate accounts that are registered with the SEC as 

investment companies under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

110 In addition, the variable 

annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies issued by these registered separate accounts 

are registered with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933.111

Further, as described above, GAs may mitigate some policyholder losses from certain insurance 

and annuity products in the event of insolvency of the insurance company issuing those products. 

However, due to MetLife’s size and broad national presence, the GAs could have insufficient 

capacity to handle a resolution of one of MetLife’s lead insurance underwriters.

From 2001 until early 2013, MetLife was subject to consolidated supervision by the Board of 

Governors as a bank holding company. While MetLife was under Board of Governors

supervision, state insurance regulators supervised the insurance activities of its insurance 

subsidiaries. During that period, Federal Reserve System staff coordinated with insurance and 

other regulators to supervise MetLife’s subsidiaries. MetLife, Inc. has deregistered as a bank 

holding company and MetLife is not currently subject to consolidated supervision.

The final determination by the Council regarding MetLife allows the Board of Governors to 

apply a number of new requirements to MetLife. These include requirements to (1) submit a 

resolution plan to the Board of Governors and the FDIC providing for its rapid and orderly 

resolution in the event of its material financial distress or failure;

112 (2) comply with enhanced 

prudential standards imposed by the Board of Governors under section 165 of the Dodd-Frank 

Act and with regulations providing for the early remediation of financial distress at the company 

under section 166 of the Dodd-Frank Act;113 and (3) file a written notice prior to acquiring 

voting shares of certain large financial companies.114 The Board of Governors is responsible for 

establishing the prudential standards that will be applicable to MetLife under section 165 of the 

Dodd-Frank Act. The Council’s determination regarding MetLife does not provide the company 

with any new access to government liquidity sources or create any authority for the government 

to rescue the company in the event of its failure.

The Council has considered all the facts of record in light of the requirement that it consider the 

degree to which MetLife is already regulated by one or more primary financial regulatory 

 110 Each registered separate account is generally divided into subaccounts, each of which invests in an underlying 

mutual fund which is itself a registered investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. See

MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, p. 26. 111 Id. 112 See Dodd-Frank Act section 165, 12 U.S.C. § 5365. 113 See Dodd-Frank Act sections 165 and 166, 12 U.S.C. §§ 5365, 5366. The enhanced prudential standards 

required by section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act are for the purpose of “prevent[ing] or mitigat[ing] risks to the 

financial stability of the United States that could arise from the material financial distress or failure, or ongoing 

activities, of large, interconnected financial institutions.” 114 See Dodd-Frank Act section 163, 12 U.S.C. § 5363.
December 18, 2014

29

agencies and has determined that the Dodd-Frank Act provides additional regulatory and 

supervisory tools focused on financial stability. 

3.3 Resolvability 

The Council also has considered whether the threat that material financial distress at MetLife 

could pose to U.S. financial stability could be mitigated or aggravated by its complexity, the 

opacity of its operations, or its difficulty to resolve. The Council has evaluated MetLife’s 

resolvability, and the ease or difficulty of successfully separating and liquidating or otherwise 

disposing of the company if it should fail, in light of all the facts of record.

The Council recognizes that some insurance assets and businesses by their nature will take 

longer to wind down than others. Therefore, in the context of the phrase “rapid and orderly 

resolution” and as applied to these assets and businesses, the term “rapid” refers to the ability to 

timely implement a plan for resolving the company that calms markets and market participants. 

By design, the winding-down of a failed insurer’s estate may take several years to accomplish 

while policyholder and contract holder liabilities are paid off as they come due, or are transferred 

to solvent insurers. 

MetLife is a highly complex and interconnected financial services organization that operates in 

approximately 50 countries and provides services to approximately 100 million customers 

globally.

115 The complexity of MetLife’s operations and intercompany relationships, including 

intra-group dependencies for derivatives management, investment management, risk 

management, cross-border operations, and critical services, creates complexities that could pose 

obstacles to a rapid and orderly resolution.

MetLife’s entities have a substantial number of interconnections to one another through 

intercompany funding arrangements, guarantees associated with inter-affiliate reinsurance, 

capital and net worth maintenance agreements, liquidity support commitments, and general 

account guarantees of separate account products that could transmit distress at one MetLife 

entity to other parts of the organization.

116 These interconnections, along with MetLife’s 

extensive and complex global network, could result in significant challenges to resolving the 

company. 

MetLife’s operations are subject to separate regulatory regimes administered by numerous state, 

federal, and non-U.S. regulators. There is no precedent for the resolution of an insurance 

organization of the size, scope, and complexity of MetLife. An effort to achieve a coordinated 

resolution of MetLife would require accommodations with each of its local supervisory 

authorities, as well as cooperation and coordination among a number of home and host 

jurisdiction supervisory authorities and courts. For example, if MetLife were to experience 

material financial distress, the resolution of its U.S. insurance subsidiaries would occur under the 

laws of the various state regulatory authorities in which it operates, and would involve various 

state GAs. An orderly resolution of MetLife would require the immediate and effective 

cooperation between various parties (e.g., bankruptcy courts and state courts) in order to avoid 

 115 MetLife, “MetLife in the World,” available at 

https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/iws/hp/about/MetLifeCorporateFactSheet.pdf (accessed December 7, 2014). 116 See MetLife Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, pp. 151, 359-360.
December 18, 2014

30

disruptions to the employees, facilities and infrastructure, and other services provided by these 

entities. Although state insurance regulators coordinate resolution through interstate associations 

and colleges, there is no single interstate regulator with jurisdiction across state boundaries. 

There is no global regulatory framework for the resolution of cross-border financial 

organizations, and applicable U.S. resolution regimes, including the separate state GAs, have 

never been tested by the resolution of an insurance organization of the size, scope and 

complexity of MetLife. These factors could aggravate the potential for MetLife’s material 

financial distress, if it were to occur, to pose a threat to U.S. financial stability. 

The interstate and cross-border complexities involved in resolving a large organization such as 

MetLife include the difficulty of ensuring the continuity of critical shared services, the separation 

of financial and operational linkages, the potential ring-fencing of assets, and the coordination of 

numerous receiverships and judicial proceedings across multiple jurisdictions. Multiple 

proceedings seeking to maximize recoveries for particular claimants could result in conflicts. 

Numerous receivers or judicial authorities would have to disentangle a complex web of 

intercompany agreements. A complex resolution process could increase the likelihood of delays 

in resolving claims and could result in increased losses. 

Based on all the facts of record, the Council has determined that if MetLife were to experience 

material financial distress, issues related to its resolvability could aggravate the potential for its 

material financial distress to pose a threat to U.S. financial stability.

As noted above, the Council’s determination regarding MetLife will enable the Board of 

Governors to apply a number of new requirements to MetLife, including a requirement that 

MetLife submit a resolution plan to the Board of Governors and the FDIC providing for its rapid 

and orderly resolution in the event of its material financial distress or failure. While a 

company’s resolution can be complicated by its complexity, the opacity of its operations, or 

other exacerbating factors, the Council believes that no firm should be protected from its own 

failure, and these statutory tools enable regulators to facilitate the orderly liquidation of a 

company.

4. CONCLUSION

The Council has made a final determination that material financial distress at MetLife could pose 

a threat to the financial stability of the United States and that MetLife should be supervised by 

the Board of Governors and be subject to enhanced prudential standards. 
December 18, 2014

31

Appendix A: MetLife Consolidated Balance Sheet

($ Millions, except share and per share data)

As of 

Sept. 30, 2014

ASSETS

Investments:

Fixed maturity securities available-for-sale, at estimated fair value $368,070 

Equity securities available-for-sale, at estimated fair value 3,689 

Fair value option and trading securities, at estimated fair value 17,246 

Mortgage loans 58,038 

Policy loans 11,756 

Real estate and real estate joint ventures 10,393 

Other limited partnership interests 8,214 

Short-term investments, principally at estimated fair value 12,240 

Other invested assets, principally at estimated fair value 17,905 

Total investments 507,551 

Cash and cash equivalents, principally at estimated fair value 8,783 

Accrued investment income 4,380 

Premiums, reinsurance and other receivables 23,814 

Deferred policy acquisition costs and value of business acquired 25,503 

Goodwill 10,216 

Other assets 8,900 

Separate account assets 319,480 

Total assets $908,627 

LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

Future policy benefits $189,282 

Policyholder account balances 215,226 

Other policy-related balances 15,026 

Policyholder dividends payable 710 

Policyholder dividend obligation 2,825 

Payables for collateral under securities loaned and other transactions 33,776 

Short-term debt 100 

Long-term debt 16,389 

Collateral financing arrangements 4,196 

Junior subordinated debt securities 3,193 

Current income tax payable 293 

Deferred income tax liability 11,357 

Other liabilities 25,373 

Separate account liabilities 319,480 

Total liabilities 837,226 

102 

71,299 

Redeemable noncontrolling interests

Total equity 

Total liabilities and equity $908,627 

Source: MetLife Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, p. 4.