MetLife, Inc.

Before we get started, I refer you to the cautionary note about forward listing 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. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you being with us today for MetLife's third quarter 2025 earnings call. Before we begin, I direct 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 and Head of MetLife Investment Management. Other members of senior management are also available to participate in today's discussion. Last night we released a set of quarterly supplemental slides and they're available on our website. John McCallion will speak to these slides in his prepared remarks. An appendix to the slides features additional disclosures, gap reconciliations, and other information which you should also review. After the prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A session which will close at the top of the hour. As a reminder, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. With that, over to Michel.

Thank you, John, and welcome everyone to this morning's call. Last night, MetLife reported strong third quarter results, showcasing the earnings power of our diversified set of market-leading businesses and shining a spotlight on the positive impact of our new frontier strategy. The expectations we outlined in the second quarter emerged in the third quarter as anticipated. Most notably, Underwriting results bounce back in our flagship group benefits business on normal disability experience and seasonally better dental profitability. Variable investment income posted its highest recent contribution to adjusted earnings as capital markets activity accelerated, unlocking value in private equity. Our global retirement liability origination platform is in high gear with growth in the US and the UK as well as in Japan, where our efficient capital structure is supporting stellar sales growth. And in Latin America, our innovative digital platform for embedded insurance, Accelerator, continues to attract and win over new strategic partners. Turning to our quarterly results, we reported adjusted earnings of $1.6 billion, or $2.37 per share, up 22% per share from the prior year period. Notable items totaled $18 million, or 3 cents per share, and included our annual actuarial assumption review and a tax adjustment in Mexico. Excluding notable items, adjusted earnings totaled $1.6 billion, or $2.34 per share, a 21% increase from a year ago. The greatest driver of our art performance in the quarter was strong investment margins led by variable investment income as well as volume growth across several business segments. We reported variable investment income of $483 million above our implied quarterly outlook of $425 million on higher private equity returns, which reached 3% for the quarter. With the rebound in variable investment income, MetLife generated an adjusted return on equity excluding notables of 16.7%, a level more on par with the company's earnings power and near the top of our target of 15 to 17%. And we delivered a direct expense ratio of 11.6% in the third quarter. We are well ahead of schedule with this ratio relative to our new frontier commitment with the force multiplier effect of AI and other emerging technologies, accelerating our productivity and efficiency gains. Moving to MetLife's businesses, Group benefits adjusted earnings, excluding notable items, totaled $457 million, up 6% from a year ago, reflecting solid underwriting results. Disability results returned to normal, and dental profitability ramped up in the quarter, consistent with its seasonal profit pattern. As a result, we saw a 230 basis point sequential improvement in our non-medical health loss ratio, providing further confidence in achieving a combined 400 basis points of improvement across the third and fourth quarters. In retirement and income solutions, adjusted earnings, excluding notable items, totaled $423 million, up 15% from the prior year quarter, reflecting higher variable investment income. Chariot Re officially launched in the third quarter with an initial reinsurance transaction of roughly $10 billion. This strategic partnership helps expand MetLife's retirement liability origination capacity in a capital efficient manner, while also generating institutional assets for MetLife investment management. Total liability balances in RIS were up 3%. The solid result was driven by strong general account balance growth, including structured settlement production a record quarter for us in fact, and volume growth in UK longevity reinsurance. We did not report any new pension risk transfer deals in the third quarter. However, the fourth quarter is shaping up to be a record quarter as we've already written $12 billion of PRT transactions demonstrating the trust the market places in MetLife. Our long-term outlook for the PRT business is positive. A few weeks ago, we released the results of our annual poll of pension plan sponsors. The survey found that 94% of those sponsors planning to de-risk their portfolios expect to fully divest in the next five years. This is the highest percentage we've recorded since we initiated the survey 10 years ago. Shifting to Asia, adjusted earnings excluding notable items were $473 million, a 36% increase on a reported basis from the prior year quarter. Sales surged 34% on a constant currency basis, driven by an outstanding 31% increase in Japan. Our competitive Japanese product portfolio, which includes both foreign currency and yen-denominated retirement products, has gained excellent traction across our multi-pronged distribution in the country. More than keeping pace, constant currency sales in other Asia markets jumped 39%, led by Korea, China, and India. In Latin America, adjusted earnings excluding notable items were $222 million, up 2%. Adjusted PFOs for the region totaled $1.7 billion, up 11% on both a reported and constant currency basis, indicative of continued business momentum across the region, most notably in Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. We recently added e-commerce leader MercadoLibre as a partner on our accelerator digital platform in Mexico and Brazil. We now have more than 20 partners across Latin America, and the accelerator platform has generated more than $340 million of annualized premiums since its launch, another powerful example of new frontier in action. Finally, EMEA posted another strong quarter with adjusted earnings excluding notable items of $89 million, up 19% on a reported basis, primarily due to volume growth. As we do each third quarter, we published our 2024 Value of New Business, or VNB, results. It is hard to overstate VNB's importance as a tool for MetLife in maintaining capital and pricing discipline around the globe. Over time, the principled use of VNB has powered our transformation into a more capitalized business with consistent improvement demonstrated year after year. Again, the results for the past year are impressive. In 2024, we deployed $3.4 billion of capital to support new business origination. This is the highest order use of our precious capital. The capital deployed in 2024 was put to use at an average internal rate of return of 19% and a payback period of five years. Our success with VMB does not occur in isolation. Achieving high internal rates of return on new business with short payback periods feeds directly into our ability to produce a high return on equity and generate strong free cash flow. To that end, we continue to manage capital with discipline, protecting liquidity and balance sheet strength while returning excess capital to shareholders. Our track record is well established. We have returned almost $24 billion to shareholders through buybacks and common dividends in the past five years. And the third quarter was no exception. We returned about $875 million to shareholders through common stock dividends and share repurchases. We paid roughly $375 million of common stock dividends and repurchased around $500 million of our common stock. With approximately $150 million of repurchases in October, our total year-to-date share buyback is now roughly $2.6 billion. We ended the quarter with cash and liquid assets at our holding companies of roughly $4.9 billion, which includes about $700 million earmarked for near-term debt maturities and is above our target cash buffer of $3 to $4 billion. There is no doubt capital deployment and capital management have been integral to our past success and will continue to be as we push forward with the execution of our new frontier strategy. We are working hard toward the successful closing of two strategic transactions, the acquisition of Pine Bridge and the sale of a legacy block of variable annuities to Talcott Resolution Life. In both cases, we are fully engaged and on track to close in the fourth quarter. As we execute across our new frontier strategic priorities, We are extending our leadership in the places we have the right to win. Underpinning our strategic priorities is our investment portfolio and our time-tested approach to credit and our unwavering commitment to risk management. For 157 years, MetLife has navigated complex and evolving credit markets, delivering consistent investment results, even through periods of significant volatility. Today, while the credit environment is reasonably stable, and credit fundamentals resilient, we recognize spreads are historically tight and, in some ways, priced for perfection. We maintain an up in quality bias across our portfolio, supported by active surveillance and disciplined underwriting. Our diversified high-quality portfolio and active risk management position us well to navigate a wide range of economic outcomes, ensuring we deliver regardless of the market environment. In closing, our third quarter results illustrate MetLife's ability to create exceptional value for shareholders and stakeholders alike and the power of the new frontier as a growth engine. As we do each year, we just completed the annual pressure testing of our strategy with our board of directors and came away confident we have the right strategy for the right time. Our focus on consistent execution, steady capital management, and expense discipline will continue to strengthen and differentiate our market leadership while fueling our superior value proposition comprised of strong growth and attractive returns with lower risk. Now I'll turn it over to John to cover the quarter in more detail.