FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hangs on the wall at SEC headquarters in Washington, DC, U.S., June 24, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
January 29, 2018
(Reuters) – MetLife Inc <MET.N> said on Monday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into the insurer’s failure to pay some workers’ pensions.
MetLife, in a statement, said the SEC’s enforcement staff has inquired about payments that the insurer failed to make for roughly 600,000 people who receive a type of annuity benefit from the company via its retirement business.
The New York insurer said it expects to increase reserves in total between $525 million and $575 million on a pre-tax basis.
That would result in a hit to fourth-quarter earnings of between $135 million and $165 million, the company said.
Last month, the company said it failed to pay pensions to potentially tens of thousands of people and will have to strengthen its reserves because of the costs of finding and repaying them.
(Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)
