MetLife, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MetLife first quarter 2023 earnings release conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Before we get started, I refer you to the cautionary note about forward-looking statements in yesterday's earnings release and to risk factors discussed in MetLife's SEC filings. With that, I will turn the call over to John Hall, Global Head of Investor Relations.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for MetLife's first quarter 2023 earnings call. In addition to our earnings release, we also issued a press release last night announcing an increase to our share repurchase authorization. Before we begin... I point you to the information on non-GAAP measures on the investor relations portion of MetLife.com in our earnings release and in our quarterly financial supplements, which you should review. On the call this morning are Michelle Halaf, President and Chief Executive Officer, and John McCallion, Chief Financial Officer. Also participating in the discussion are other members of senior management. Last night, we released an expanded set of supplemental slides which address the quarter as well as provide an update on our investment portfolio. The slides are available on our website. John McCallion will speak to them in his prepared remarks if you wish to follow along. An appendix to the slides features disclosures, gap reconciliations, and other information which you should also similarly review. I would like to point out This is the initial quarter we are reporting our financial results based on the new long-duration targeted improvements accounting standard. Please note that prior comparative periods have been recast to conform with LDTI. As usual, after prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A session. In light of the very busy morning, Q&A will end promptly just before the top of the hour. In fairness to everyone, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. With that, over to Michel.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Throughout MetLife's 155-year history, with risk management at our foundation, we have emerged from times of uncertainty in a stronger position, and I expect now to be no different. We remain focused on managing risk across economic cycles and controlling the things we can control to deliver for our shareholders and our other stakeholders. Last night, we reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.2 billion, or $1.52 per share, which compares to $1.7 billion, or $2.04 per share, a year ago. The quarter's results illustrate MetLife's resilience and underscore our continued strong business momentum and our ability to execute across what we control. We posted strong sales numbers representing responsible growth for most of our key businesses and markets, including group benefits, Asia, and Latin America. We generated good underwriting results owing to our rigorous price discipline. We continued to manage our costs with vigilance and to beat our expense targets. And prudent risk selection helped push recurring investment income higher, while new money rates reached 5.8% for the quarter. Reflecting the market, variable investment income fell below our quarterly outlook expectation on the basis of returns on venture capital and real estate equity funds. In total, net income for the quarter was $14 million, driven by losses on opportunistic investment sales in Japan, which offset the tax impact on the gain generated by our recent Japanese ANH reinsurance transaction. Shifting to MetLife's business performance in the quarter, I will start with our U.S. group benefits results. Adjusted earnings totaled $307 million, up substantially from the prior year when COVID-19 claims were more elevated, with benefit ratios reverting to pre-pandemic seasonal norms. The momentum we've seen over the past several years for this franchise business continued in the quarter. We are strategically well positioned to grow in this attractive business given our scale, distribution reach, broad product portfolio, enrollment capabilities, and importantly, our thought leadership. Our differentiation in this space led to strong growth in sales and premium fees and other revenues in all market segments and across voluntary products. In total, sales were up 15 percent, while adjusted PFOs grew 5.4 percent toward the top end of our outlook expectation after adjusting for participating policies. For retirement and income solutions, or RIS, Adjusted earnings totaled $400 million, down from the prior year driven by lower variable investment income. Adjusted PFOs in the quarter benefited from our sustained efforts to grow our structured settlement and our longevity reinsurance businesses. While we did not book any pension risk transfer business in the first quarter, funding levels remained strong. And despite the market turmoil during the first quarter, our capital markets investment products business was able to issue $3.7 billion of funding for this spread business, demonstrating the value of MetLife Credit and the broader capital markets. In Asia, adjusted earnings of $280 million were below a year ago on lower variable investment income. Sales on a constant currency basis were up across the board in the region. Japan saw sales rise 17% on the strength of FX annuities, while India led the sales gains in other Asia up 45%, followed by Korea up 21%. Turning to Latin America, adjusted earnings totaled $215 million, up more than 50% from last year. We are the largest life insurer in Latin America, and our business continues to put up impressive growth numbers in our major markets, with sales jumping 36% and adjusted PFOs rising 26%, both on a constant currency basis. Taking a broader view of investments, rising interest rates are a long-term positive for MetLife. We have a long time horizon and invest with our liabilities in mind. Our liabilities are sticky and are generally not subject to demand. Asset liability management, matching the duration of our assets with that of our liabilities, reduces reinvestment risk and is critical to our risk management process. Our investment process has stood the test of time, successfully guiding us through the global financial crisis. However, we do not have the luxury to wait until a crisis hits. We look around corners and prepare in advance. Our investment portfolio de-risking began in 2019, and we remain up in quality. Our core investment strengths have fashioned us as one of the premier private investors in the world, particularly in private credit and in real estate debt and equity. We have leveraged those strengths to support our policyholders while building from a standing start MetLife Investment Management, a leading third-party institutional manager of public fixed income, private credit, and real estate. Moving to capital and cash, a tactical element of our business that we control, MetLife was active with capital management during the first quarter. We paid $389 million of common stock dividends to shareholders, and we repurchased $780 million of our common stock. Also, we repurchased another $223 million of our common stock during the month of April. On the strength of our balance sheet and our free cash flow, we announced last week a 4% increase in our common dividend per share. We think an increasing common dividend per share is the hallmark of a strong life insurer, and MetLife's common dividend per share has grown at a compound rate of 9% since 2011. With roughly $200 million left on our current buyback authorization, as you saw last night, our Board of Directors has authorized an incremental $3 billion increase to our buyback authorization. In the quarter, we announced and closed on the acquisition of Raven Capital Management, an alternative investment manager specializing in direct asset-based investments. Aided by MetLife's strategic M&A capabilities, we were able to add an important investment product adjacency that we expect MetLife Investment Management to scale over time. Taken together, these actions demonstrate our commitment to being a sound capital steward for our shareholders. In the absence of responsible organic growth or compelling M&A opportunities, we will return capital over time to our shareholders. At the end of the quarter, we held $4.2 billion of cash at our holding companies, which is above the top end of the $3 to $4 billion liquidity buffer we maintain. Our holding company cash fluctuates from quarter to quarter. The balance in the first quarter typically reflects lower seasonal operating subsidiary dividends and higher seasonal holding company expenses. Before I close, I would like to take a moment to welcome Jay Johnson to MetLife's Board of Directors. Jay joined at the end of April, and he brings unique perspective to our board, having served as Secretary of Homeland Security under President Obama. I am certain Jay's talents and experience will serve MetLife well. In closing, while 2023 is shaping up to be another year of uncertainty, the successful actions we've taken to focus, simplify, and differentiate our business can be seen in the quarter's strong underlying business fundamentals, particularly in sales, underwriting, and recurring investment margins. Raising the bar and demanding more from ourselves is part of the culture we've fostered here at MetLife. If we focus on what we can control, with relentless execution in mind, we can stay ahead of the curve, and I am confident we will continue to do so. Now I'll turn it over to John to cover our performance in greater detail.