MetLife Inaugurates New Asia Center of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur

MetLife Inc., (NYSE: MET) announced the official inauguration event of its new Asia Center of Excellence (CoE). The event took place yesterday at The Vertical in Bangsar South commercial district in Kuala Lumpur and was attended by the Minister of International Trade and Industry, YB Datuk Darell Leiking, the U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir and the Acting Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli along with government officials and members of MetLife’s Asia senior management team.

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(From L to R) Daniel Faline, Vice President, Finance, MetLife; Noor Azam Mohd Yusof, CEO, AmMetLife Takaful; Datuk Darell Leiking, Minister of International Trade and Industry; Rick Butler, Vice President, Finance, MetLife; John McCallion, Chief Financial Officer, MetLife Inc.; Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, the U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia; Ramzi Toubassy, CEO AmMetLife and Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL

The new center will leverage local talent to support the global finance teams on financial reporting, planning and analysis, and finance technology systems. Commenting on the CoE, John McCallion, Chief Financial Officer for MetLife, Inc. said “The CoE in Kuala Lumpur is an exciting addition to our Asia region. We intend to tap in to the impressive talent pool and focus on delivering high-quality services to our business partners across Asia.”

“The competitiveness of Malaysia’s economy hinges on sound financial planning, forecasting and smart business foresight. This must be strengthened through the creation of a talent pool that has the critical skills to spur trade and industry from a financial standpoint,” said Minister of International Trade and Industry, YB Datuk Darell Leiking.

“The launch of this CoE is an important addition to our domestic ecosystem, and we are pleased that MetLife has strengthened its presence in the development of Malaysians in the finance sector,” he added.

Commenting on U.S. investments in Malaysia, Acting Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL, Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli said, “We are pleased that MetLife continues to place confidence in Malaysia and have expanded their presence with the opening of the CoE. Greater KL has a strong proposition with many advantages, including a sophisticated business ecosystem and business-friendly policies, well-developed infrastructure and a robust multilingual talent pool with management and finance-related qualifications. We will continue to support MetLife on their regional growth journey in building their high skilled talent pipeline through InvestKL’s Talent programme and other industry-academia facilitation.”

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates (“MetLife”), is one of the world’s leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 markets globally and holds leading positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

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