MetLife is a life insurance company that serves around 100 million customers worldwide. It operates in 40 countries through six segments: MetLife Holdings, USA, Asia, Latin America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and Corporate & Other.
In the USA, MetLife offers a variety of insurance and financial services products such as life, dental, disability, property & casualty, stable value, annuities, and guaranteed interest to individuals and groups.
Worldwide, the company provides life, medical, dental, accident & health, and credit insurance products for individuals and groups. It also offers annuities, endowment, and retirement & savings products.
MetLife traces its roots back to the foundation of the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company in 1863, which provided wartime-related disability coverage for Civil War sailors and soldiers. In 1864, the company had written 17 life policies and 56 accident policies.
James R. Dow, a doctor and the president of the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company, dropped the company’s casualty business and focused solely on life insurance after five years of struggling in the industry. The change led to the establishment of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which is now known as MetLife.
MetLife opened its new business in 1868 and continued to grow until it started signing up 700 new industry policies daily in 1880. Over the years, the company has extended its products and services to different markets until it finally held market positions in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Khalaf joined MetLife in 2010 as the chief executive officer of the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region through the company’s acquisition of the American Life Insurance Company (ALICO).
In 2011, Khalaf joined the company’s executive group as the president of the EMEA region. He was responsible for individual and group insurance businesses sold through brokers, agents, banks, and direct channels in over 25 markets.
In 2017, he became responsible for global employee benefits and the company’s US businesses – including property & casualty, group benefits, and retirement & income solutions. In 2019, MetLife appointed Khalaf as the company’s new president and chief executive officer.
The MetLife Foundation uses grants and its financial expertise to help communities with their financial health. It also encourages MetLife employees to volunteer to help drive the impact of the foundation’s initiatives.
The foundation works with organisations worldwide to create initiatives that help lower-income people in managing their financial health, including hosting competitions. Inclusion Plus, for example, is an international programme that identifies emerging social ventures related to financial health.
In 2018, the MetLife Foundation worked with social innovation platform Verb to host competitions in Australia, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, and the United States. In the same year, the foundation provided $200 million in grants to support financial inclusion globally.
MetLife Foundation aims to continue helping lower-income people manage household budgets and plan for their future.
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