MetLife, Inc. (MET) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending September 30, 2022

November 3, 2022 9:00 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MetLife Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Release Conference Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Before we get started, I refer you to the cautionary note about forward-looking statements in yesterday's earnings release and to risk factors discussed in MetLife's SEC filings.

With that, I will now turn the call over to John Hall, Global Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

John Hall - Head of IR

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for MetLife's third quarter 2022 earnings call. To begin, I refer you to the information on non-GAAP measures on the Investor Relations portion of metlife.com, in our earnings release and in our quarterly financial supplements which you should review.

Presenting on the call this morning are Michel Khalaf, President and Chief Executive Officer; and John McCallion, Chief Financial Officer. Also available to participate in the discussion are other members of senior management. Last night, we released a set of supplemental slides which addressed the quarter. They are available on our website. John McCallion will speak to those supplemental slides in his prepared remarks if you wish to follow along. An appendix to these slides features incremental disclosures, GAAP reconciliations and other information which you should also review.

After prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A session, and it will end no later than the top of the hour. In fairness to all, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Now on to Michel.

Michel Khalaf - President & CEO

Thank you, John and good morning, everyone. Many of the macroeconomic trends from the first half of the year persisted in the third quarter. As equity markets fell again, interest rates rose some more and the possibility of a recession remains in sight. Against this backdrop, we are pleased with the execution of our Next Horizon strategy which continues to prove its resilience in the face of uncertainty.

Looking ahead, there are several areas that we believe differentiate MetLife and position us well going forward. We have established a track record of relentless execution focused on controlling those factors that we can control. We have built a diversified portfolio of businesses with natural offsets through organic growth, supplemented by strategic acquisitions and tactical divestments. We have a commitment to responsible growth, aided by the use of powerful analytical tools such as VNB or value of new business to produce high-teen IRRs and mid-single-digit payback periods. We have embedded an efficiency mindset in our DNA which drives our productivity and provides us with the capacity to invest in the future. And we generate strong recurring free cash flow that supports clear and consistent capital and liquidity management.