Met Life Insurance history

1865: The company is renamed National Life and Traveler's Insurance Company.

1866: Life and casualty lines split into two separate companies.

The latter company initially offered only casualty lines, selling its first policy in 1867, and adding life insurance to its casualty lines later that year.

Metlife was founded on March 24, 1868 and is headquartered in New York, NY.“

In 1869, $614 million worth of life insurance had been written in the United States, of which Metropolitan had written 2,930 policies valued at $4.86 million.

In 1871 Dow died and was succeeded as president by Joseph F. Knapp.

1879: The addition of industrial life insurance helps to revive the company following nearly a decade of economic depression.

Metropolitan's success was stunning: $9 million in industrial insurance was written the first year; $18 million the second; and by 1886, just six years after the policy was officially introduced, Metropolitan had more than $100 million of industrial life insurance in force.

1893: Metropolitan Tower, which would become a New York landmark, is commissioned.

In 1905 a New York State legislative committee headed by Senator William W. Armstrong launched an investigation of the major life insurance companies, hoping to do away with any abusive practices.

1909: Metropolitan has more life insurance in force than any other company.

In 1913 Metropolitan was authorized to write accident and health insurance.

In 1914 it wrote its first group accident and health policy on its own employees.

1915: The company is transformed into a mutually held company.

In April 1919 President John R. Hegeman died, after 28 years at the Metropolitan helm.

Starting in 1921, Alico grew to become one of the largest and most diversified international insurance companies in the world—and the first foreign life insurance company licensed to sell in Japan.

Assets topped $2 billion in 1926.

In 1928 the company wrote the largest group policy to date, for the General Motors Corporation for $400 million.

In March 1929 Frederick H. Ecker became president of Metropolitan upon Haley Fiske's death.

1939: A federal investigation of life insurance companies is launched, but the industry ultimately is left to police itself.

After much testimony, the TNEC issued its report in 1941.

By March 1946 Metropolitan paid out $42.1 million on 51,956 lives lost as a direct result of the war.

James, Marquis, The Metropolitan Life: A Study in Business Growth, New York: Viking Press, 1947.

In 1951 Leroy A. Lincoln became chairman of the board at Metropolitan.

In 1954, the company was the first in life insurance to install a major computer system.

1958: Branch of ALICO was established in Jordan as a life insurance leader.

In 1963 Gilbert Fitzhugh became president of Metropolitan.

1966: Metropolitan is replaced by Prudential as the number one life insurer in terms of assets.

In 1968, a year after race riots rocked United States cities, the life insurance companies made a commitment to invest in inner cities.

By the end of the decade, the flaws of Metropolitan's decentralization program, begun in 1970, became apparent.

Equities investments reached $1 billion in 1972.

In October 1973 Richard R. Shinn became chairman of Metropolitan Life.

In 1974 its group life broke an industry record with $ 118.68 billion in force.

1975: The company begins writing individual retirement annuities.

In 1978 a subsidiary to reinsure property and casualty business, Metropolitan Reinsurance, began operations.

1980: The company completes the largest single building purchase (Pan Am Building) in history.

In 1982 Metropolitan Tower Life was formed to write specialty lines.

In 1984 Metropolitan's "whole life plus" policy, offering up to one-third more coverage with no increase in premium, introduced just three years prior, became the company's best-selling policy.

In 1985 Metropolitan acquired Charter Security Life Insurance Companies and in so doing took over its line of Single Premium Deferred Annuities.

In 1986 the company began to develop an Asian-American marketing strategy.

In 1987 the assets of insolvent annuity-writer Baldwin-United Corporation and the Texas Life Insurance Company were acquired.

MetLife HealthCare Management Corporation was established in 1988 to set up health maintenance organizations.

Metropolitan began selling insurance in Taiwan in 1989.

According to a March 1994 Sales & Marketing Management article, a business standards committee was created, the customer relations department was centralized, and ethics and compliance committees were established.

The company reported a net loss of $672 million in 1995.

1998: The board of directors authorizes demutualization.

MetLife would raise $2.5 billion through its April 2000 initial public offering (IPO).

Return on equity—helped by a $1 billion stock buyback in 2001—was also on the upswing.

Consequently, Forbes declared in April 2002 that MetLife was “in far better shape” thanks to Benmosche’s efforts but also noted the turnaround effort was “still a work in progress.”