It may be the largest life insurer in the US, but MetLife has been on a significant cost cutting mission.
The company cut 11,000 jobs last year, reporting that it had 58,000 employees at the end of December – down by 16% compared to the prior year. A large part of that came with the sale of a distribution network to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, which saw 4,000 advisers make the move; while the company also revealed plans to reduce staff as part of the separation from Brighthouse Financial, its US business which sells life insurance and annuities.
“In light of the significant headwinds our industry is facing, MetLife must do even more to avoid simply running in place,” said CEO Steve Kandarian in an interview with Bloomberg in February. “We know this will require us to reduce headcount, which is never an easy step for an organization to take. Our overall goal is to be more efficient, so that we can better serve our customers and provide a fair return to shareholders.”
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Going forward, the CEO is focusing the company’s efforts on providing insurance through employers and international markets. He also highlighted market volatility and drew attention to the nature of the firm’s $500 billion investment portfolio and noted the expansion of volatility in the UK, where it has around $11.3 billion in fixed-maturity securities, according to Bloomberg.
“Events following the UK’s referendum on June 23, 2016 and the uncertainties associated with its pending withdrawal from the EU have contributed to market volatility,” the company said in the filing.
MetLife is certainly not the only insurance firm in the US that is shrinking, however. In its own regulatory filing, AIG reported a 15% reduction in its headcount, down to 56,400.
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