MetLife Increases Share Buyback Authorization to $1 Billion
September 22 2015 - 4:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
MetLife Inc. has raised to $1 billion the amount it has set
aside to buy back shares, the insurer's third increase since it
resumed buying back its stock last year.
The nation's biggest life insurer by assets has been building
capital ahead of expected stiffer federal capital rules.
Last September, a regulatory panel voted to propose labeling
MetLife "systemically important," a designation that indicates the
government believes the company could pose a risk to the broader
economy during a crisis and would impose tougher rules, including
larger capital cushions, on MetLife and bring it under the Federal
Reserve oversight.
Four nonbanking companies have been designated as systemically
important as well as banks with $50 billion in assets or more.
MetLife said it completed in the first quarter a $1 billion
buyback program unveiled in December 2014.
Chief Executive Steven Kandarian told analysts on the company's
first-quarter conference call that MetLife hadn't decided about
additional repurchases this year, citing regulatory
uncertainty.
Buybacks in the insurance industry are highly desired amid
sluggish growth conditions.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2015 16:30 ET (20:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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