MetLife gets risk tag from U.S. panel, weighs legal options

U.S. lawmakers voted last week to give the Fed more flexibility in how it sets rules after insurers said they shouldn't be subject to standards set for banks. Kandarian, in a Dec. 10 statement, praised Congress for passing the legislation, which he said would give the central bank the "opportunity to write rules that will preserve competition."

The FSOC, which has 10 voting members and is led by Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, doesn't release the names of companies until at least one business day after the final designation is made. Voting members also include the heads of the Fed, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The council has designated three other non-bank financial companies systemically important: insurers American International Group Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc., and General Electric Co.'s finance arm. A two-thirds vote, including Lew's, is required.

AIG, the insurer that required a $182.3 billion bailout in the financial crisis, and GE Capital opted against challenging the risk tag. Prudential, the second-largest U.S. life insurer, lost its challenge to the council's ruling last year. The Newark, New Jersey-based company opted against appealing the ruling in federal court.

Created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, the council is charged with monitoring potential threats to the financial system. Under Dodd-Frank, bank-holding companies with more than $50 billion in assets, such as Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are overseen by the Fed.