LONDON — MetLife, the largest US life insurer, announced its first stock buybacks since 2008 as CEO Steven Kandarian seeks to reward investors. The shares gained in early trading.The insurer will repurchase as much as $1bn of common stock utilising existing authorisations from the board of directors, New York-based MetLife said on Tuesday in a statement.Mr Kandarian had previously refrained from buybacks at MetLife while preparing for the prospect of increased oversight from US regulators.The insurer is in the final stage of consideration to be designated systemically important, a finding that would subject the company to increased scrutiny from the Federal Reserve."Our philosophy is that excess capital belongs to our shareholders," Mr Kandarian said. "The challenge is to strike the right balance between adherence to our philosophy and recognition that MetLife’s required capital levels remain unknown."Last month, he said MetLife would "take a conservative approach to capital managem...
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