MetLife, Inc. (MET) Business Profile

What it does

MetLife provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits and investment management. Founded in 1868 and headquartered in New York City, it is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Michel A. Khalaf. Its customers include employers, government entities, pension plans, other institutions and individuals.

In the United States, MetLife’s Group Benefits business offers workplace coverage such as life, dental, disability and vision insurance. It also offers paid family and medical leave services, legal plans and pet insurance. Some employers buy insurance from MetLife; others use it to administer benefits while retaining the insurance risk themselves.

Its Retirement and Income Solutions business helps institutions manage obligations associated with employee benefit programs. For example, an employer can transfer some or all of its pension obligations through an annuity contract. MetLife also provides structured settlement annuities and reinsurance to other insurers.

Outside the United States, MetLife sells life and health insurance, savings and retirement products through businesses in Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. MetLife Investment Management manages money for institutional clients as well as assets in MetLife’s own general account, the pool supporting many of its insurance obligations.

MetLife reports these operations in six segments: Group Benefits, Retirement and Income Solutions, Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and MetLife Investment Management. Corporate & Other includes businesses whose products are no longer actively marketed in the United States.

How it makes money

MetLife earns insurance premiums, investment income and fees. Its insurance pricing starts with expected benefit payments and uses assumptions about mortality, disability and illness, expenses, customer retention, investment returns and inflation. Claims and expenses reduce what remains from those premiums.

Some insurance products renew, allowing MetLife to review rates. Under certain contracts, it evaluates past experience when setting future premiums; other arrangements allow it to recoup some losses or return some gains to the policyholder based on prior experience. Employers can also pay for administrative services without buying insurance coverage from MetLife.

Retirement and Income Solutions sells annuities that take on pension liabilities, along with stable-value products and other funding arrangements. Some pension transfers involve a single premium, while longevity reinsurance converts uncertain pension obligations into a stream of payments to MetLife over the contract’s life. MetLife invests assets supporting its obligations and earns income from them; the difference between investment income and amounts credited to customers is one source of earnings.

The international segments sell insurance and retirement products through local distribution networks. MetLife Investment Management earns fees for managing institutional assets and also manages investments for the company’s general account. The value of assets under management can affect those fees.

For Q3 2026, MetLife reported net income of $2.4 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.8 billion. Those quarterly figures include investment and insurance results as well as fee-based activities. In 2025, Group Benefits’ adjusted premiums, fees and other revenues increased $599 million, or 2%, from 2024, driven primarily by growth in core and voluntary products.

Customers and how it sells

MetLife sells to employers and other institutions, their employees, and individual customers. Group Benefits account executives sell directly or through brokers and consultants. MetLife also distributes workplace products through associations, affinity groups and third-party arrangements, and provides coverage to certain U.S. government employees.

Retirement and Income Solutions reaches benefit plan sponsors and advisers through its own sales teams and relationship managers, as well as through intermediaries. MetLife Investment Management serves institutions including insurers, pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and other investment clients.

In Asia, MetLife operates in nine jurisdictions, with its largest operation in Japan. Its channels include agencies, banks and, in some markets, independent brokers. In Latin America, its largest operations are in Mexico and Chile; it uses agencies, direct marketing, brokers and worksite marketing. MetLife said it reached about 30 million customers in Latin America in Q3 2026.

The largest operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are in the Gulf region, the United Kingdom, Turkey and France. Distribution there includes agencies, brokers, banks, corporate solutions and direct-to-consumer channels. MetLife’s largest international operations therefore vary by region, as do the channels through which it reaches customers.

Suppliers and costs

MetLife’s principal operating costs include benefits and claims, commissions, employee expenses, technology and other operating expenses. It establishes liabilities for future policy benefits and claims using actuarial estimates. Actual payments can differ from those estimates. Group Benefits expenses normally rise in the fourth quarter because of benefit renewals, enrollment and marketing.

The company buys reinsurance to limit losses, reduce exposure to significant risks and provide capacity for future growth. It also provides reinsurance to other insurers and uses arrangements among affiliates for risk and capital management. Reinsurance costs and availability can change.

MetLife distributes products through its own employees as well as brokers, consultants, agencies, banks and other third parties. Its operations also depend on information systems operated by MetLife and by service providers and vendors. The company had 46,000 employees in FY2025.

MetLife expects its direct expense ratio, excluding specified notable items and pension risk transfers, to be 11.3% in 2029. The measure relates expenses to revenue rather than describing the cost of any one product.

Competitive position

MetLife competes with life insurers and other financial services companies, including banks, broker-dealers and asset managers. Competition covers individual consumers, employers and other groups, as well as agents and distributors. MetLife does not identify individual competitors in its description of the market.

Life insurers compete on service, product features, price, financial strength, claims-paying ratings, technology and distribution, among other factors. Some competitors offer a broader range of products, more competitive pricing or higher claims-paying ratings. Group purchasers may be able to obtain better terms from another insurer rather than renew with MetLife.

MetLife has longstanding relationships with large U.S. employers and sells a range of benefits through employee sales teams and intermediaries. Its retirement business offers pension transfers, structured settlements, stable-value products and reinsurance. Internationally, it uses different distribution channels across markets.

Our reading: Employer relationships and the range of workplace benefits give MetLife a meaningful distribution advantage, but renewals and competing offers limit its protection. Our reading: The retirement product range gives MetLife several ways to serve institutional customers, though competitors also contest those customers on price, service and financial strength. Our reading: Established international channels can support access to customers, but their strength varies by market and they face local and global insurers.

Growth opportunities

MetLife’s New Frontier strategy prioritizes group benefits, retirement products, asset management and international markets. The company intends to grow through its existing businesses and considers acquisitions in asset management and group benefits. MetLife completed its acquisition of PineBridge Investments in December 2025 to broaden its asset management offerings and distribution.

MetLife said the PineBridge integration produced expense synergies during 2026. It also said MetLife Investment Management had outflows, generally in public fixed income, while winning more private mandates than the number of mandates that flowed out in Q3 2026. Assets in those new private mandates build as they are deployed.

In retirement, pension risk transfers let employers move some pension liabilities to an insurer. MetLife said it sold $14 billion of pension risk transfers in 2025 and views lighter U.S. activity in 2026 as a timing issue rather than a structural change. It also sells longevity and funded reinsurance in the United Kingdom.

Internationally, MetLife has a multi-market embedded insurance partnership with digital bank Revolut and intends to apply capabilities developed in Latin America in other regions. In Asia, sales declined 6% on a constant-currency basis in Q3 2026 against a strong prior-year comparison, while year-to-date sales rose 10% on that basis.

MetLife expects to generate approximately $25.0 billion in free cash flow over the five-year period of 2025 to 2029. The expectation depends on the company’s assumptions about future economic and business conditions.

Structural risks

• Interest rates and investments: Interest rate changes can reduce or eliminate investment spread and net income. Equity-market declines can also affect investment returns and fees based on the value of managed assets, while changing real estate conditions can affect property investments and loans.

• Claims and guarantees: If claims are less favorable than the assumptions used to establish liabilities, MetLife may need to increase liabilities or incur higher costs. Guarantees in some products can become more costly when markets fall or interest rates decline.

• Capital and liquidity: Market disruption can make financing more expensive or less available. If MetLife needs substantial cash quickly or must post collateral, it may have difficulty selling investments promptly or may have to sell them at a loss.

• Regulation and taxes: Insurance regulators can change requirements or take actions that affect the business. Restrictions on subsidiary dividends can also limit cash available to the holding company, while changes in tax law can reduce earnings or affect demand for products.

• Operations and reinsurance: MetLife relies on its own information systems and those of vendors and service providers. Reinsurers may increase prices or decline to offer coverage, and catastrophes can increase claims while also harming reinsurers’ financial condition.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: MetLife combines workplace insurance and retirement obligations with international insurance and institutional asset management, so its earnings come from premiums, investment spreads and fees rather than a single product. Its employer relationships and distribution reach support the business, but insurance renewals remain competitive (item1).

Our reading: The model also depends on claims assumptions, investment performance and access to capital; unfavorable experience in any of these areas can offset growth in premiums or assets managed (item1a, item7).