MetLife Arm to Contribute $500,000 to Lebanon Relief Effort

The MetLife Foundation says it will be contributing $500,000 to efforts to help Lebanon recover from this week’s catastrophic explosion in the port of Beirut.

The explosion, which shook Lebanon’s capital Tuesday, killed more than 200 people, displaced about 300,000 people, and caused more than $10 billion in property damage, according to Marwan Abboud, the governor of Beirut.

The explosion damaged the homes of more than 4% of Lebanon’s 6.8 million residents.

(Related: The Updated Katrina Contribution List)

MetLife’s Alico unit has been operating in Lebanon since 1953. It now has about 100,000 customers in Lebanon, and an office in the J.M. Plaza Building in Beirut, 2.5 miles from the site of the explosion.

MetLife generated the equivalent of about $180 million in premium revenue in Lebanon in 2019, according to the Insurance Control Commission of Lebanon.

MetLife generated $136 million in premium revenue from life and retirement products, $29 million from property and casualty insurance, and $25 million from health insurance products.

Michel Khalaf, the chief executive officer of MetLife, said in a comment included in the donation announcement that the MetLife Foundation hopes its support will provide for immediate needs and put Lebanon on the path to recovery.

“We were heartbroken to see the destruction in Beirut, and we want to do everything possible to help the people of Lebanon,” Khalaf said.

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