MetLife Wins 'Too-Big-To-Fail' Ruling; Insurance Sector Moves Higher

Insurance stocks are edging higher after Metlife Inc (NYSE: MET) won a 'too-big-to-fail' ruling, according to a Bloomberg report. Shares of the insurer climbed as much as 8 percent after the ruling.

The news is sending shares of insurance companies higher.

• American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) rose 2 percent to $54.51
• Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE: PRU) gained 3 percent to $73.68
• Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE: LNC) rose 1.4 percent to $40.17
• AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) edged up 1.4 percent to $64.07

Bloomberg reported a federal judge in Washington struck down the designation, rejecting the Financial Stability Oversight Council's rationale for classifying the company as a systemically important financial institution.

The SIFI (Systemically Important Financial Institution) status would've put America's biggest life insurer under tougher government scrutiny and forced it to put more money in reserves, the report added.

AIG and Prudential are the other insurers having the SIFI status.

In January, MetLife announced its plans to separate a substantial portion of its U.S. Retail segment, citing regulatory environment.

At that time, MetLife Chairman, President and CEO Steven Kandarian said: "Currently, U.S. Retail is part of a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI) and risks higher capital requirements that could put it at a significant competitive disadvantage. Even though we are appealing our SIFI designation in court and do not believe any part of MetLife is systemic, this risk of increased capital requirements contributed to our decision to pursue the separation of the business."