Michel Khalaf

Michel Khalaf has led MetLife as President and CEO since 2019, overseeing the largest life insurance company in the United States and one of the largest globally. MetLife serves over 90 million customers in approximately 40 countries, providing a comprehensive range of insurance and financial products: group employee benefits (dental, vision, disability, life insurance — where MetLife is the #1 provider to U.S. employers), individual life insurance, retirement and income solutions (annuities, pension risk transfers), and investment management (through MetLife Investment Management, which manages $600+ billion in assets). Khalaf's strategic focus has been the "New Frontier" strategy, which emphasizes higher-growth, less capital-intensive businesses (like group benefits and retirement risk transfer) while de-emphasizing lower-return, capital-heavy businesses. The spin-off of Brighthouse Financial in 2017 (prior to Khalaf but strategic context) removed MetLife's U.S. retail variable annuity business, improving the company's risk profile. MetLife's investment portfolio — one of the largest in the insurance industry — generates significant investment income that is sensitive to interest rate levels. Higher interest rates generally benefit MetLife by increasing investment yields. Key stock drivers include interest rate environment (a dominant factor), group benefits enrollment and pricing, retirement risk transfer deal pipeline, mortality and morbidity trends, investment portfolio performance, international operations (particularly Japan and Latin America), and capital return to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.