Navigate this market better. Subscribe for FREE stock alerts and information.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

MetLife gets regulatory nod to drop bank-holding tag, (NYSE: MET)

MetLife Inc said it received regulatory approvals to deregister as a bank holding company, freeing the largest U.S. life insurer from Federal Reserve oversight.The company started the process of dropping the registration after closing the sale of its deposit-taking business to General Electric's GE Capital unit last month.Deregistering as a bank holding company will mean MetLife needs to set aside less capital to satisfy Fed regulations, opening the possibility of returning cash to shareholders through dividends or buybacks.The central bank blocked MetLife from buying back shares in late 2011, and the company failed a Fed stress test last March.

MetLife, Inc. (MetLife), is a provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Shares of MET fell by 2.56% or $-0.96/share to $36.54. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $27.60 and as high as $39.55. On average, 9307860 shares of MET exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 12902929.



Source