MetLife Bank’s Mortgage Servicing Portfolio To Be Purchased By JPMorgan & Co.

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) announced today an agreement to sell MetLife Bank, N.A.’s approximately $70 billion mortgage servicing portfolio to JPMorganChase Bank, N.A. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Given MetLife’s strategic focus as a global insurance and employee benefits leader, the company decided in 2011 that a bank holding company structure was no longer appropriate. “Since that time, MetLife has entered into agreements to sell MetLife Bank’s deposit business to GE Capital, sold the bank’s warehouse finance business to EverBank, sold the bank's reverse mortgage servicing rights to Nationstar, and ceased writing residential mortgages,” said Jim Rose, MetLife Bank President.

“The acquisition of this high-quality portfolio reflects our strategy to strengthen and grow our Servicing business,” said Eric Schuppenhauer, Head of Mortgage Servicing at Chase. “We will be able to provide our full range of products and services to an additional 350,000 individuals and families. We expect that many of these customers will take advantage of historically low interest rates by refinancing.”

The $70 billion servicing portfolio will increase Chase’s $1.1 trillion Servicing business by more than 5%.

MetLife’s entire retail banking business, including mortgages, represented less than 2% of MetLife’s 2011 operating earnings. In a regulatory filing on October 24, MetLife announced it was exploring a sale of its mortgage servicing portfolio and in connection with that decision, began reporting MetLife Bank’s forward mortgage servicing assets and operations as divested businesses.

MetLife was advised on the J.P. Morgan Chase transaction by K&L Gates LLP, Milestone Advisors LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc. is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

MetLife’s Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain or incorporate by reference information that includes or is based upon forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements give expectations or forecasts of future events. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project, “intend,” “plan,” “believe” and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions, prospective services or products, future performance or results of current and anticipated services or products, sales efforts, expenses, the outcome of contingencies such as legal proceedings, trends in operations and financial results.

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