How has the subprime crisis affected MetLife, globally?
MetLife is the largest insurance player in the US and has moved up to the 39th position in the Fortune 100 list from 43rd last year. The subprime crisis has had a minimal impact since globally we have very little exposure to the most troublesome aspects of subprime. MetLife does not insure subprime mortgage securities. Globally, MetLife’s ratings are among the highest in the industry. As of December 31, 2008, MetLife Inc’s excess capital position was in excess of $5 billion, which we believe is higher than any of our US competitors. Your growth rate of close to 40% has been among the highest in the industry. Can you sustain this growth rate? We closed FY09 with annualised first year premium of Rs 1,185 crore, a growth of 40% over last year. The current economic slowdown has been impacting the economy and we do not expect to be insulated from the rest of industry. I would expect the current market scenario to be a passing phase and all of us will only emerge stronger from this. We were
