Segment Information

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Information

2. Segment Information

As previously announced, in the third quarter of 2016, MetLife reorganized its businesses intosixsegments: U.S.; Asia; Latin America; EMEA; MetLife Holdings; and Brighthouse Financial, in anticipation of the proposed Separation. In addition, the Company reports certain of its results of operations in Corporate & Other. Prior period results have been revised in connection with the reorganization and did not have an impact on total consolidated net income (loss) or operating earnings.

On January 12, 2016, MetLife, Inc. announced its plan to pursue the Separation. MetLife, Inc. subsequently re-segmented the business to be separated and rebranded it as “Brighthouse Financial.”

On October 5, 2016, Brighthouse Financial, Inc., a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (“Brighthouse”), filed a registration statement on Form 10 (the “Form 10”) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). On December 6, 2016 and on April 18, 2017, Brighthouse filed amendments to its registration statement on Form 10 with the SEC. The information statement filed as an exhibit to the Form 10 disclosed that the Company intends to include Brighthouse Life Insurance Company (formerly, MetLife Insurance Company USA (“MetLife USA”)) (“Brighthouse Insurance”), New England Life Insurance Company (“NELICO”), Brighthouse Life Insurance Company of NY (formerly, First MetLife Investors Insurance Company (“FMLI”)), Brighthouse Investment Advisers, LLC (formerly, MetLife Advisers, LLC) and certain captive reinsurance companies in the proposed separated business and distribute at least 80.1% of the shares of Brighthouse’s common stock on a pro rata basis to the holders of MetLife, Inc. common stock.

Effective April 28, 2017, following receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, MetLife contributed certain captive reinsurance companies to Brighthouse Insurance, which were then merged into a newly-formed captive reinsurance company that is wholly-owned by Brighthouse Insurance. See Note 14 for information on related financing arrangements.

The ultimate form and timing of the Separation will be influenced by a number of factors, including regulatory considerations and economic conditions. MetLife continues to evaluate and pursue structural alternatives for the proposed Separation. The Separation remains subject to certain conditions, including among others, obtaining final approval from the MetLife, Inc. Board of Directors, receipt of a favorable ruling from the Internal Revenue Service and an opinion from MetLife’s tax advisor regarding certain U.S. federal income tax matters, insurance and other regulatory approvals, and an SEC declaration of the effectiveness of the Form 10.

U.S.

The U.S. segment offers a broad range of protection products and services aimed at serving the financial needs of customers throughout their lives. These products are sold to corporations and their respective employees, other institutions and their respective members, as well as individuals. The U.S. segment is organized into three businesses: Group Benefits, Retirement and Income Solutions and Property & Casualty.

• The Group Benefits business offers insurance products and services which include life, dental, group short- and long-term disability, individual disability, accidental death and dismemberment, critical illness, vision and accident & health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans. This business also sells administrative services-only arrangements to some employers.

• The Retirement and Income Solutions business offers a broad range of annuity and investment products, including guaranteed interest contracts and other stable value products, institutional income annuities and separate account contracts for the investment management of defined benefit and defined contribution plan assets. This business also includes structured settlements and certain products to fund postretirement benefits and company-, bank- or trust-owned life insurance used to finance nonqualified benefit programs for executives.

• The Property & Casualty business offers personal and commercial lines of property and casualty insurance, including private passenger automobile, homeowners’ and personal excess liability insurance. In addition, Property & Casualty offers small business owners property, liability and business interruption insurance.

Asia

The Asia segment offers a broad range of products to both individuals and corporations, as well as other institutions and their respective employees, which include whole life, term life, variable life, universal life, accident & health insurance, fixed and variable annuities, credit insurance and endowment products.

Latin America

The Latin America segment offers a broad range of products to both individuals and corporations, as well as other institutions and their respective employees, which include life insurance, accident & health insurance, group medical, dental, credit insurance, endowment and retirement and savings products.

EMEA

The EMEA segment offers a broad range of products to both individuals and corporations, as well as other institutions and their respective employees, which include life insurance, accident & health insurance, credit insurance, annuities, endowment and retirement and savings products.

MetLife Holdings

The MetLife Holdings segment consists of operations relating to products and businesses no longer actively marketed by the Company in the United States. These products and businesses include variable, universal, term and whole life, as well as variable, fixed and index-linked annuities. The MetLife Holdings segment also includes the Company’s discontinued long-term care business and the assumed reinsurance of certain variable annuity products from the Company’s former operating joint venture in Japan.

Brighthouse Financial

The Brighthouse Financial segment offers a broad range of products and services which include variable, fixed, index-linked and income annuities, as well as variable, universal, term and whole life products. These products and services are actively marketed through various third party retail distribution channels in the United States. In addition, the Brighthouse Financial segment includes certain run-off businesses which are not actively marketed.

Corporate & Other

Corporate & Other contains the excess capital, as well as certain charges and activities, not allocated to the segments, including external integration and disposition costs, internal resource costs for associates committed to acquisitions and dispositions, enterprise-wide strategic initiative restructuring charges and various start-up businesses (including expatriate benefits insurance and the investment management business through which the Company offers fee-based investment management services to institutional clients, as well as the direct to consumer portion of the U.S. Direct business). Corporate & Other also includes interest expense related to the majority of the Company’s outstanding debt, as well as expenses associated with certain legal proceedings and income tax audit issues. In addition, Corporate & Other includes the elimination of intersegment amounts, which generally relate to affiliated reinsurance and intersegment loans, which bear interest rates commensurate with related borrowings.

Financial Measures and Segment Accounting Policies

Operating earnings is used by management to evaluate performance and allocate resources. Consistent with GAAP guidance for segment reporting, operating earnings is also the Company’s GAAP measure of segment performance and is reported below. Operating earnings should not be viewed as a substitute for net income (loss).The Company believes the presentation of operating earnings as the Company measures it for management purposes enhances the understanding of its performance by highlighting the results of operations and the underlying profitability drivers of the business. Operating earnings allows analysis of the Company’s performance relative to the Company’s business plan and facilitates comparisons to industry results.

Operating earnings is defined as operating revenues less operating expenses, both net of income tax.

The financial measures of operating revenues and operating expenses focus on the Company’s primary businesses principally by excluding the impact of market volatility, which could distort trends, and revenues and costs related to non-core products and divested businesses and certain entities required to be consolidated under GAAP. Also, these measures exclude results of discontinued operations and other businesses that have been or will be sold or exited by MetLife and are referred to as divested businesses. In addition, for the three months ended March 31, 2016, operating revenues and operating expenses exclude the financial impact of converting the Company’s Japan operations to calendar year-end reporting without retrospective application of this change to prior periods and is referred to as lag elimination. Operating revenues also excludes net investment gains (losses) and net derivative gains (losses). Operating expenses also excludes goodwill impairments.

The following additional adjustments are made to revenues, in the line items indicated, in calculating operating revenues:

• Universal life and investment-type product policy fees excludes the amortization of unearned revenue related to net investment gains (losses) and net derivative gains (losses) and certain variable annuityguaranteed minimum income benefits (“GMIBs”) fees (“GMIB Fees”); and

• Net investment income: (i) includes earned income on derivatives and amortization of premium on derivatives that are hedges of investments or that are used to replicate certain investments, but do not qualify for hedge accounting treatment,(ii) excludes post-tax operating earnings adjustments relating to insurance joint ventures accounted for under the equity method, (iii) excludes certain amounts related to contractholder-directed unit-linked investments and (iv) excludes certain amounts related to securitization entities that are VIEs consolidated under GAAP; and

• Other revenues are adjusted for settlements of foreign currency earnings hedges.

The following additional adjustments are made to expenses, in the line items indicated, in calculating operating expenses:

• Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends excludes: (i) changes in the policyholder dividend obligation related to net investment gains (losses) and net derivative gains (losses), (ii) inflation-indexed benefit adjustments associated with contracts backed by inflation-indexed investments and amounts associated with periodic crediting rate adjustments based on the total return of a contractually referenced pool of assets and other pass through adjustments, (iii) benefits and hedging costs related to GMIBs (“GMIB Costs”) and (iv) market value adjustments associated with surrenders or terminations of contracts (“Market Value Adjustments”);

• Interest credited to policyholder account balances includes adjustments for earned income on derivatives and amortization of premium on derivatives that are hedges of policyholder account balances but do not qualify for hedge accounting treatment and excludes amounts related to net investment income earned on contractholder-directed unit-linked investments;

• Amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs (“DAC”) andvalue of business acquired (“VOBA”)excludes amounts related to: (i) net investment gains (losses) and net derivative gains (losses), (ii) GMIB Fees and GMIB Costs and (iii) Market Value Adjustments;

• Amortization of negative VOBA excludes amounts related to Market Value Adjustments;

• Interest expense on debt excludes certain amounts related to securitization entities that are VIEs consolidated under GAAP; and

• Other expenses excludes costs related to: (i) noncontrolling interests, (ii) implementation of new insurance regulatory requirements, and (iii) acquisition, integration and other costs.

Operating earnings also excludes the recognition of certain contingent assets and liabilities that could not be recognized at acquisition or adjusted for during the measurement period under GAAP business combination accounting guidance.

The tax impact of the adjustments mentioned above are calculated net of the U.S. or foreign statutory tax rate, which could differ from the Company’s effective tax rate. Additionally, the provision for income tax (expense) benefit also includes the impact related to the timing of certain tax credits, as well as certain tax reforms.

Set forth in the tables below is certain financial information with respect to the Company’s segments, as well as Corporate & Other, for thethree months endedMarch 31, 2017 and 2016. The segment accounting policies are the same as those used to prepare the Company’s consolidated financial statements, except for operating earnings adjustments as defined above. In addition, segment accounting policies include the method of capital allocation described below, with the exception of the Brighthouse Financial segment,for which equity is reflective of the historical equity of the legal entities which comprise Brighthouse and related companies, which will be eliminated upon Separation. The Brighthouse Financial segment equity is not indicative of Brighthouse and related companies’ equity on a combined standalone basis.

Economic capital is an internally developed risk capital model, the purpose of which is to measure the risk in the business and to provide a basis upon which capital is deployed. The economic capital model accounts for the unique and specific nature of the risks inherent in the Company’s business.

The Company’s economic capital model, coupled with considerations of local capital requirements, aligns segment allocated equity with emerging standards and consistent risk principles. The model applies statistics-based risk evaluation principles to the material risks to which the Company is exposed. These consistent risk principles include calibrating required economic capital shock factors to a specific confidence level and time horizon while applying an industry standard method for the inclusion of diversification benefits among risk types.The Company’s management is responsible for the ongoing production and enhancement of the economic capital model and reviews its approach periodically to ensure that it remains consistent with emerging industry practice standards.

Segment net investment income, with the exception of the Brighthouse Financial segment, is credited or charged based on the level of allocated equity; however, changes in allocated equity do not impact the Company’s consolidated net investment income, net income (loss) or operating earnings. As noted above, the Brighthouse Financial segment’s net investment income represents that of the legal entities which comprise Brighthouse and related companies on a historical basis, however, Brighthouse Financial segment’s net investment income may not be indicative of that on a combined standalone basis.

Net investment income is based upon the actual results of each segment’s specifically identifiable investment portfolios adjusted for allocated equity. Other costs are allocated to each of the segments based upon: (i) a review of the nature of such costs; (ii) time studies analyzing the amount of employee compensation costs incurred by each segment; and (iii) cost estimates included in the Company’s product pricing.

	Operating Results
Three Months Ended March 31, 2017	U.S.			Asia			Latin America			EMEA			MetLife Holdings			Brighthouse Financial			Corporate & Other			Total			Adjustments			Total Consolidated
	(In millions)
Revenues
Premiums	$	5,185		$	1,708		$	647		$	502		$	1,059		$	177		$	37		$	9,315		$	—		$	9,315
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	265			366			260			95			362			884			(31		)	2,201			101			2,302
Net investment income	1,612			702			303			74			1,441			858			5			4,995			201			5,196
Other revenues	204			10			9			17			96			74			(42		)	368			6			374
Net investment gains (losses)	—			—			—			—			—			—			—			—			8			8
Net derivative gains (losses)	—			—			—			—			—			—			—			—			(926		)	(926		)
Total revenues	7,266			2,786			1,219			688			2,958			1,993			(31		)	16,879			(610		)	16,269
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	5,235			1,315			633			269			1,736			631			9			9,828			348			10,176
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	351			321			82			24			257			275			—			1,310			402			1,712
Capitalization of DAC	(100		)	(420		)	(82		)	(92		)	(34		)	(67		)	(1		)	(796		)	—			(796		)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	114			291			78			87			74			200			1			845			(312		)	533
Amortization of negative VOBA	—			(37		)	—			(3		)	—			—			—			(40		)	(3		)	(43		)
Interest expense on debt	2			—			1			—			15			32			246			296			—			296
Other expenses	909			875			326			316			340			612			90			3,468			106			3,574
Total expenses	6,511			2,345			1,038			601			2,388			1,683			345			14,911			541			15,452
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	252			146			38			12			185			66			(283		)	416			(428		)	(12		)
Operating earnings	$	503		$	295		$	143		$	75		$	385		$	244		$	(93	)	1,552
Adjustments to:
Total revenues																						(610		)
Total expenses																						(541		)
Provision for income tax (expense) benefit																						428
Net income (loss)																						$	829					$	829

	Operating Results
Three Months Ended March 31, 2016	U.S.			Asia			Latin America			EMEA			MetLife Holdings			Brighthouse Financial			Corporate & Other			Total			Adjustments			Total Consolidated
	(In millions)
Revenues
Premiums	$	5,020		$	1,658		$	601		$	500		$	1,097		$	393		$	(2	)	$	9,267		$	426		$	9,693
Universal life and investment-type product policy fees	250			350			268			95			355			858			(25		)	2,151			193			2,344
Net investment income	1,460			618			255			80			1,475			813			5			4,706			(147		)	4,559
Other revenues	204			17			7			20			204			86			(51		)	487			—			487
Net investment gains (losses)	—			—			—			—			—			—			—			—			15			15
Net derivative gains (losses)	—			—			—			—			—			—			—			—			1,335			1,335
Total revenues	6,934			2,643			1,131			695			3,131			2,150			(73		)	16,611			1,822			18,433
Expenses
Policyholder benefits and claims and policyholder dividends	5,046			1,236			550			261			1,823			703			(26		)	9,593			400			9,993
Interest credited to policyholder account balances	322			319			80			29			258			289			4			1,301			25			1,326
Capitalization of DAC	(111		)	(385		)	(73		)	(101		)	(100		)	(102		)	(4		)	(876		)	(105		)	(981		)
Amortization of DAC and VOBA	118			286			63			102			148			162			2			881			114			995
Amortization of negative VOBA	—			(64		)	—			(3		)	—			—			—			(67		)	(32		)	(99		)
Interest expense on debt	2			—			—			—			14			32			264			312			—			312
Other expenses	942			851			310			333			596			624			54			3,710			255			3,965
Total expenses	6,319			2,243			930			621			2,739			1,708			294			14,854			657			15,511
Provision for income tax expense (benefit)	209			95			50			11			125			115			(183		)	422			297			719
Operating earnings	$	406		$	305		$	151		$	63		$	267		$	327		$	(184	)	1,335
Adjustments to:
Total revenues																						1,822
Total expenses																						(657		)
Provision for income tax (expense) benefit																						(297		)
Net income (loss)																						$	2,203					$	2,203

The following table presents total assets with respect to the Company’s segments, as well as Corporate & Other, at:

	March 31, 2017		December 31, 2016
	(In millions)
U.S.	$	254,041	$	253,683
Asia	128,932		120,656
Latin America	71,697		67,233
EMEA	26,786		25,596
MetLife Holdings	184,187		184,276
Brighthouse Financial	223,746		222,681
Corporate & Other	25,298		24,639
Total	$	914,687	$	898,764