- "Life insurance activities alone did not lead to its designation," according to papers filed in U.S. District Count by the Financial Stability Oversight Council in response to MetLife's (NYSE:MET) suit over its non-bank SIFI designation.
- The FSOC says Met "engages in significant financial activities beyond simply selling life insurance," thus increasing its reliance on short-term funding. In a crisis, this could force the sale of assets "at a scale and speed that could impair or freeze up broader financial markets."
- Among those activities are the selling of guaranteed investment contracts (GICs), of which Met has $48B outstanding, funding agreements, and securities lending.
- Sounds like a roadmap to a settlement.
- Source: The WSJ's Leslie Scism