MetLife Receives Approval for Grand Bank Acquisition

February 13, 2001

The Federal Reserve Board has approved the MetLife’s application for bank holding company status and its acquisition of Grand Bank, N.A. of Kingston, New Jersey.

The Board also has approved MetLife’s request for financial holding company status. MetLife signed a definitive agreement in August 2000 to acquire Grand Bank, a nationally chartered bank.

“We are pleased that the Federal Reserve Board approved our request for financial holding company status and approved MetLife’s acquisition of Grand Bank. Our entree into retail banking will allow us to offer a wide range of integrated financial services to our customers,” said Robert H. Benmosche, MetLife’s chairman and chief executive officer.

“Providing banking services, as a complement to Institutional and Individual products and services, will allow us to retain customers long term,” said Judy Weiss, MetLife’s executive vice president in charge of the company’s banking unit. “MetLife Bank will initially offer traditional banking services such as checking and savings accounts, CDs, money market accounts, debit cards, and online banking and bill payments, with additional products to be introduced at a later date.”

As of September 30, 2000, Grand Bank, which will be renamed MetLife Bank, N.A., reported total assets of approximately $84 million. MetLife, Inc., through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to individual and group customers.

The MetLife companies serve approximately nine million individual households in the U.S. and companies and institutions with 33 million employees and members. It also has international insurance operations in 12 countries.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions

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