Snoopy may soon be put on Janet Yellen’s leash.
MetLife, which uses the Peanuts pooch as its marketing mascot, needs to be overseen by the Federal Reserve chair and limit how much it can borrow because it’s too big to fail, a group of top US regulators decided on Thursday.
The Financial Stability Oversight Council, or FSOC, led by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, spent years probing the New York insurance giant’s finances and businesses after the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul gave it sweeping powers to rein in companies that, if they failed, could damage the global financial system.
The FSOC preliminary finding, if ultimately upheld, would make MetLife the fourth nonbank company — alongside AIG, Prudential and General Electric Credit Corp., none of which disputed the finding — to be deemed a systemically important financial institution, of Sifi.
As such, MetLife, in addition to being subject to stricter oversight, would have to have higher cash reserves — a factor that could lead to its being forced to sell some business units.
Such a downsizing could lead to layoffs.
MetLife “strongly disagrees” with the FSOC finding, CEO Steven Kandarian said in a statement.
The company has 30 days to dispute the recommendation.
“In fact, MetLife has served as a source of financial strength and stability during times of economic distress, including the 2008 financial crisis,” the CEO said in the statement.
Kandarian said MetLife would “contest” the designation under Dodd-Frank rules.
Most of the companies considered Sifis are banks, such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.