* Sells portfolio to Nationstar Mortgage
* Stops accepting new applications
* Company trying to drop bank charter
April 26 (Reuters) – MetLife Inc, the largest life
insurer in the United States, changed course on Thursday and
said it would sell off its reverse mortgage business, one of the
largest in the country.
MetLife has been actively shedding its banking and mortgage
operations in a bid to drop its bank holding company charter,
but as recently as January it had said it would continue writing
reverse mortgages.
But the company said Thursday that Nationstar Mortgage LLC
would buy its reverse mortgage servicing portfolio, adding that
MetLife Bank would not accept any new applications.
It was not clear whether the move would lead to job cuts,
and spokesmen for the company were not immediately available to
comment.
The company stopped taking applications for traditional
mortgages earlier this year, and struck a deal last year to sell
MetLife Bank’s deposit business to General Electric Co’s
GE Capital.
Earlier this year, because of the oversight role it has
through the company’s bank charter, the Federal Reserve blocked
MetLife from raising its dividend or buying back shares amid
concerns about some of its capital ratios.
