Bank-Wannabe Insurers Switch Strategies to Avoid Oversight
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MetLife Inc. Chairman Robert Henrikson stood before an assembly of insurance executives in October and said his push to lobby U.S. financial overseers on the Dodd-Frank regulation law was nearing a close.
Ten months later, MetLife, the biggest U.S. life insurer, still has time. The industry’s American Council of Life Insurers has pressed for a delay on the rules and said its members pose less risk to financial stability than banks. To help the effort, New York-based MetLife is selling its deposit-gathering business, and rival Allstate Corp. is shutting its bank.