MetLife Inc said on Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into the insurer’s failure to pay some workers’ pensions, Reuters reported. MetLife, in a statement, said the SEC’s enforcement staff has inquired about payments that the insurer failed to make for people who receive a type of annuity benefit from the company via its retirement business. Less than 5 percent of 600,000 people are affected, the company has said. The New York insurer estimated increasing total reserves by between $525 million and $575 million on a pre-tax basis, resulting in a hit to fourth-quarter earnings of $135 million to $165 million. Last month, MetLife said it failed to pay pensions to possibly tens of thousands of people and would have to strengthen its reserves because of the costs of finding and repaying them. “To date, MetLife is not aware of any intentional wrongdoing in connection with this matter,” the company said on Monday, adding that it was responding to the SEC’s questions.
