Metlife was founded in 1863 under the name National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company with the objective to insure Civil War soldiers against wartime related disabilities. The company found little success and wrote very few policies. Eventually on March 24, 1868, it shifted its focus on just life insurance business and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company was born.
Today Metlife is a global provider of insurance and annuities serving around 90 million customers. In addition to the property and casualty products, it offers life, accident and health insurance, retirement and savings products. It is the largest life insurer in United States with $2 trillion of insurance products underwritten.
Domicile & licensing status
Metlife is licensed
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RI
Metropolitan Direct P&C Ins Co RI
Met Lloyds Insurance Co. of TX TX
Economy Preferred Insurance Co IL
Ownership structure
The corporate structure of Metlife has undergone changes many times.
January 6, 1915 - Changed from a stock company to a mutual company (mutualization process)
April 4, 2000 - Offered IPO and went public again (De-mutualization process)
Today, Metlife is publicly traded company with around 84% of the stock as free float. 78% is institutionally owned with the top ten holders accounting approx. 33%. Major institutional stock holders are mutual funds and endowment/pension funds.
The chart below represents the ownership structure of the company.
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Within institutional holding, Vanguard and State Street Group are the major stakeholders in Metlife. The detailed breakup is shown below:
Stock performance
Metlife is Fortune 500 Company ranked at 49th. The following chart shows the Metlife stock price versus the SNL Underwriter Index (consisting of all underwriters’ listed on major US exchanges). SNL U.S. Insurance Underwriter : Includes all Insurance Underwriters in SNL's coverage universe whose primary shares trade on a U.S. exchange (NYSE, NYSE MKT, NASDAQ,
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We succeed at accomplishing this by putting our client's needs first and making certain we focus on building financial freedom for them and their loved ones”.
Vision
“To be the world’s first-choice provider of life and health insurance services. We will create unmatched value for our customers, colleagues, business partners and shareholders as we contribute to the growth of sustainable, prosperous communities”.
Segment analysis
P&C business of Metlife offers a large number of insurance products in homeowners, renter’s, landlord insurance, auto, commercial insurance, marine insurance and professional liability insurance. However, automobile and home insurance are the dominant contributor to the revenue.
The following charts represent the Net Premiums written in 2015, segregated by category and geography respectively. 65% of premiums accounts for auto insurance through both standard and non-standard policies. Homeowner's and other coverage, including personal excess liability, make up the remaining 30% of the company's premiums. Geographically, Metlife has largest presence in the Eastern and Midwest part of the