MetLife Defends Court Ruling Striking Too Big to Fail Label

By Andrew Harris and Katherine Chiglinsky, Bloomberg News

MetLife Inc. defended a judge’s decision to rescind the insurer’s designation as too big to fail, saying the federal regulator that imposed the label abandoned its analytical standard and relied on “unjustified assumptions and guesswork.”

The Financial Stability Oversight Council is seeking to reverse U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer’s ruling in March that the panel overreached in declaring MetLife a systemically important financial institution, which can bring stricter capital requirements.

“Having decided to target MetLife for designation, FSOC selectively applied the statutory criteria established by Congress, repeatedly departed from its own regulations ...