WHIPPANY, N.J. – MetLife Investment Management (“MIM”), MetLife, Inc.’s (NYSE: MET) institutional asset management platform, announced today that it originated $2.9 billion in global agricultural loans in 2017. The strong investment activity pushed MIM’s total agricultural mortgage loans managed to a record level of more than $15.3 billion, ranking the firm as the largest non-government sponsored, agricultural mortgage lender in the United States¹.

Eakinomics: FSOC and the Courts

The Dodd-Frank Act created the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and empowered it to designate non-bank financial entities as Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs). That is as it should be — Congress creates law. At the outset, FSOC followed an entity-based approach to designating SIFIs — for all practical purposes, a focus on the size of entities — and used this to designate the insurers MetLife, Prudential, and AIG as SIFIs. Again, that is how policy should be made — the Administration implements law.

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“Earlier this year the Treasury Department invited AAF to participate in a roundtable discussion with other think tanks and academics as it researched and wrote its report on banks and credit unions, pursuant to Executive Order 13772. At least three other Treasury reports are due for publication this fall. For the next report, in lieu of further roundtables, however, interested groups and individuals are invited to submit written comments on FSOC-specific matters. Below are written comments from AAF President Douglas-Holtz-Eakin and AAF Director of Financial Services Policy Meghan Milloy to Treasury staff regarding FSOC and recommendations for reform.”

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Lawmakers ask for review of Financial Stability Oversight Council and its ability to subject nonbank financial firms to stricter oversight.

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The top Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee called on the Treasury Department Tuesday to end the policy of designating non-bank financial companies as Too Big To Fail.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Senator Tom Cotton and nine other Republican Senators urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to “use the all tools available” to reverse the Obama administration’s policy of having a federal council designate non-bank financial companies as “systemically important financial institutions,” a designation that brings with it stringent supervision by the Federal Reserve, new capital requirements, and costly regulatory burdens.

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WASHINGTON — A group of 10 Republican senators are calling on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to drop the government’s appeal of a ruling last year that rejected the insurance giant MetLife’s designation as a systemically risky firm and to dedesignate the only other two nonbanks labeled as a potential threat to the economy.

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Donald Trump meant many things to many voters, but for some, he was the deregulation candidate. He could validate that reputation if he acts soon on a regulatory dispute involving insurance giant MetLife. But he can’t wait too long.

In 2014, the Obama administration’s Financial Stability Oversight Council branded MetLife a too-big-to-fail enterprise, officially a “systemically important financial institution.” This designation placed the company under the regulatory regime of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, whose provisions were primarily aimed at the banking industry in an effort to decrease systemic threats to the financial markets.

MetLife challenged the label in January 2015, filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The company argued the classification was improper for a number of reasons. First, it felt that it was targeted due to its size and not the business activities it was engaged in.

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Overregulation, a worry expressed by Donald Trump in the presidential campaign, diminishes freedom and stymies the economy. President Barack Obama is its champ. A major victory of his, therefore, was the hurriedly, recklessly passed Dodd-Frank financial reform law meant to prevent another 2008-style fiscal crisis.

Its failure is too big to ignore.

Two values particularly mark this year’s 2014 MetLife Qualified Retirement Plan Barometer (QRPB) survey of Fortune 1000 retirement plan sponsors: income and simplicity.

The survey found that 57 percent of defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors that don’t include an income annuity are taking a “serious look” at lifetime income options, 34 percent have explored offering such options and 11 percent have conducted due diligence regarding companies that offer lifetime income options.

“DC-only plans sponsors are taking a serious look at lifetime income,” said David DeGeorge, vice president of life and income funding solutions for MetLife.