MetLife probed for failing to pay retirees

Regulators in Massachusetts and New York State are investigating MetLife after the insurance giant revealed it had failed to pay pensions to potentially thousands of people.

MetLife said that it believed the group missing out on the payments represented less than 5 percent of about 600,000 people who receive a type of annuity benefit from the company via its retirement business.

Those affected generally have average benefits of less than $150 a month, MetLife said.

“Retirees cannot afford to have glitches with their pension checks,” said Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, the state’s top securities regulator, .

“I want to uncover why this occurred and how MetLife is going to rectify the problem for the retirees,” Galvin said.

MetLife, which pledged to fully cooperate with regulators, said the standard way for finding retirees who are owed benefits is no longer sufficient.

“While it is still difficult to track everyone down, we have not been as aggressive as we could have been,” MetLife said in a statement.

The company said it needed to “do a better job locating retirees,” adding it is now using “enhanced techniques” to locate and quickly pay those who may be entitled to benefits.