In court papers, lawyers for the government countered that Collyer didn’t find the council’s collective judgment was mistaken even though she’d set that judgment aside.
Regulatory Tag
Just three other non-banks have borne the systemically-important financial institution label, Prudential Financial Inc., American International Group Inc., and General Electric Co., which sold off almost $200 billion of lending assets as part of a successful effort to shed the FSOC tag.
MetLife has also moved to reduce its regulatory profile. In January, the company said it planned to spin off a U.S. retail business to boost cash flow and alleviate regulatory concerns.
About 80 percent of shares in the new business, called Brighthouse Financial Inc., will be distributed to MetLife investors, the company said in papers filed Oct. 5 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The separation would reduce its assets by about 25 percent, or $240 billion, leaving MetLife smaller than Prudential but bigger than AIG.
Monday’s arguments were heard by U.S. Circuit judges A. Raymond Randolph, a 1990 Bush nominee, and Sri Srinivasan and Patricia Millett, both 2013 Obama nominees. Dodd-Frank’s authors, former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, and former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, both Democrats, submitted court papers in support of the government.
The case is MetLife Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Council, 16-5086, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Washington). The lower court case is MetLife Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Council, 15-cv-00045, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.