MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with 90 million customers in over 60 countries. The firm was founded on March 24, 1868.
On January 6, 1915, MetLife completed the mutualization process, changing from a stock life insurance company owned by individuals to a mutual company operating without external shareholders and for the benefit of policyholders. The company went public in 2000. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia’s Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East. MetLife serves 90 of the largest Fortune 500 companies. The company’s principal offices are located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, though it retains some executive offices and its boardroom in the MetLife Building, located at 200 Park Avenue, New York City, which it sold in 2005.
Corporate structure
As of 2010, the company was "organized into five segments: Insurance Products, Retirement Products," the US Business (including Auto & Home and Corporate Benefit Funding), and International. The Insurance Products division was the largest unit, accounting for 53% of 2009 revenue. By 2015, a division referred to as "Americas" had emerged.
Corporate governance
As of 2011, MetLife's chief executive officer was Steve Kandarian. Kandarian also served as the company's chairman of the board and president as of 2015.
Hired in 2013, John Hele served as chief financial officer for the company as of 2015.
In 2015, MetLife hired Hugh Dineen to fill the new role of chief marketing officer within the US Business Unit.
As in many large, public corporations, MetLife has a compensation committee which establishes compensation levels for the company's senior executives; MetLife compensation emphasizes "variable performance-based compensation over fixed or guaranteed pay".
History
The predecessor company to MetLife began in 1863 when a group of New York City businessmen raised $100,000 to found the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company. The company insured Civil War sailors and soldiers against disabilities due to wartime wounds, accidents, and sickness. On March 24, 1868, it became known as Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and shifted its focus to the life insurance business.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company tower, which previously served as company headquarters, was featured in its advertising for many years.
A severe business depression that began with the Panic of 1873 forced the company to contract, until it reached its lowest point in the late 1870s. After observing the insurance industry in Great Britain in 1879, MetLife President Joseph F. Knapp brought “industrial” or “workingmen’s” insurance programs to the United States – insurance issued in small amounts on which premiums were collected weekly or monthly at the policyholder’s home. By 1880, sales had exceeded a quarter million of such policies, resulting in nearly $1 million in revenue from premiums. In 1909, MetLife had become the nation’s largest life insurer in the U.S., as measured by life insurance in force (the total value of life insurance policies issued).
In 1907, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company tower was commissioned to serve as MetLife’s 23rd Street headquarters in Lower Manhattan. Completed two years later, the building was the world's tallest until 1913 and remained the company's headquarters until 2005. For many years, an illustration of the building (with light emanating from the tip of its spire and the slogan, "The Light That Never Fails") featured prominently in MetLife’s advertising. By 1930, MetLife insured every fifth man, woman, and child in the United States and Canada. During the 1930s, it also began to diversify its portfolio by reducing the percentage of individual mortgages in favor of public utility bonds, investments in government securities, and loans for commercial real estate. The company financed the construction of the Empire State Building in 1929 as well as provided capital to build Rockefeller Center in 1931. During World War II, MetLife placed more than 51 percent of its total assets in war bonds, and was the largest single private contributor to the Allied cause.
Current era
From 2004 to 2011, MetLife continued to hold its position as the largest life insurer in the United States. The company had $2.5 trillion in policies written, $350 billion in assets under management, over 12 million customers in the United States, 8 million customers outside the United States, and a net income in 2003 of $2.2 billion. That year, Barron's reported that 13 million American households owned at least one product from MetLife.
MetLife named Robert H. Benmosche as chairman and CEO in July 1999. Benmosche occupied the position until 2006, when he was replaced by C. Robert Henrikson.
The company's sales grew 11.5% between 2008 and 2009, despite the national recession. In 2011, CEO Robert Henrikson was replaced by Steven A. Kandarian, who had overseen the company's "US$450,000,000,000 investment portfolio" as chief investment officer. Henrikson remained the company's chairman to the end of 2011, at which point he reached the company's mandatory retirement age.
In 2015, MetLife was ranked as number one on Fortune magazine's list of World's Most Admired Companies in the Insurance: Life and Health category.
Products and services
Life insurance
MetLife’s individual life insurance products and services comprise term life insurance and several types of permanent life insurance, including whole life, universal life, and final expense whole life insurance. These services vary in regards to the duration and amount of coverage available and whether a medical exam is required for coverage. The company also offers group life insurance, provided through employers, which consists of term life, permanent life, and accidental death and dismemberment coverage. MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States, based on life insurance in-force.
Dental
MetLife offers group dental benefit plans for individuals, employees, retirees and their families and provides dental plan administration for over 20 million people. Plans include MetLife’s Preferred Dentist Program (PPO) and the SafeGuard DHMO (available for both individuals and employees in CA, FL, and TX). As of May 2010, MetLife’s dental PPO network included over 135,000 participating dentist locations nationwide while the dental HMO network included more than 13,000 participating dentist locations in California, Florida and Texas. MetLife also administers dental continuing education program for dentists and allied health care professionals, which are recognized by the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).
Disability
MetLife provides disability products for individuals as well as employee and association groups who receive them through their employer. For individuals, the company’s individual disability income insurance can replace a portion of lost income if an individual is unable to work due to sickness or injury. MetLife offers several individual disability income policies, including MetLife Income Guard, OMNI Advantage, OMNI Essential, Business Overhead Expense, and Buy-Sell. The policy options provided by the company vary in terms of eligibility and the provided coverage. For groups, MetLife offers short term disability insurance and long term disability insurance. Short term disability insurance is structured to replace a portion of an individual’s income during the initial weeks of a disabling illness or accident. Long term disability Insurance serves to replace a portion of an individual’s income during an extended period of a disabling illness or accident. The company also maintains an absence management product which allows employers to track and manage both planned and unplanned employee absences. The product, which MetLife calls MetLife Total Absence Management, is structured for businesses with 1,000 or more employees.
Annuities
MetLife is among the largest providers of annuities in the world, recording $22.4 billion in sales during 2009. MetLife offers annuities which consist of fixed annuities, variable annuities, deferred annuities and immediate annuities. In 1921, MetLife was the first company to issue a group annuity contract. More recently in 2004, it was the first insurer to introduce a longevity insurance product. As of December 31, 2009, MetLife globally managed group annuity assets of $60 billion with $34 billion of transferred pension liabilities and provided benefit payments to over 600,000 annuitants per month.
Auto & Home
MetLife Auto & Home is the brand name for MetLife’s nine affiliate personal lines insurance companies. Collectively these companies offer personal lines property and casualty insurance policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The flagship company in the MetLife Auto & Home group, Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company, was founded in 1972. MetLife Auto & Home companies presently have over 2.7 million active policies and service 58 of the Fortune 100 companies.
It was the first national insurer in the U.S. to offer identity-theft resolution services at no extra premium and as of 2012 continues to do so today in most U.S. states. In 2010, MetLife Auto & Home began offering their GrandProtect plan in most states. This GrandProtect policy simplifies complex insurance needs by combining a client's home, valuable items, autos, RVs, and boats into one comprehensive policy package. The ultimate benefits to the consumer are having one bill, only one deductible, comprehensive coverage, and typically lower rates than trying to get each policy individually.
Other products
MetLife’s products also include critical illness insurance. Financial services include fee-based financial planning, retirement planning, wealth management, 529 Plans, banking, and commercial and residential mortgages. The company also provides retirement plan and other financial services to healthcare, education, and not-for-profit organizations. The MetLife Center for Special Needs Planning is a group of planners which serve families and individuals with special needs. In 2014, MetLife launched MetLife Defender, a digital identity theft protection product.
See also
- List of United States insurance companies
- Met English
- Park La Brea, Los Angeles, California
- Park Merced, San Francisco, California
- Parkchester, Bronx
- Riverton Houses
- Stuyvesant Town
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