MetLife joins the SIFI list

In its decision, the full court threw out a 2-1 ruling in the Halbig case and ordered a rehearing. That decision reversed an Obama administration regulation that allowed health insurance tax credits under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for consumers in all 50 states, whether it was a federal exchange or a state exchange through which the consumer purchased the coverage. The D.C. Circuit made that decision on the same day a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals upheld the administration based on Chevron, a 1987 decision that gives federal agencies broad authority to interpret their own regulations.

If designated a SIFI, MetLife would be subjected to stricter capital, leverage and liquidity requirements as a result of supervision by the Federal Reserve Board as well as state regulators. It would join American International Group and Prudential Financial as insurance SIFIs if designated. General Electric Capital Corp. is the only other non-bank SIFI.

However, Robin Schoen of the Washington Analysis said in an investor note that the “early signals regarding the shape of new capital rules suggest future rules will be manageable.” Moreover, Schoen said, “we do not expect insurers to be subjected to Federal Reserve stress tests — despite being designated as SIFIs — until 2017, at the earliest.”

The FSOC acted two days after seven House members sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew effectively seeking a stay of execution for MetLife. The letter was crafted by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J. The letter argued that the FSOC policy toward insurance companies is to “designate first, then ask questions later.” And it specifically argued that insurers “didn’t get the public analytical effort that the asset management industry did in the FSOCs ‘rush’ to designate firms as SIFIs, leading to disparate treatment of insurers,” the congressmen said.