On March 30, 2016, MetLife won its battle (for the moment at least) against the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) when Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, US District Court Judge for the District of Columbia, issued an order overturning MetLife’s designation as a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI). While the judge’s order currently is under seal, it is believed that a redacted version of it may be available sometime next month.  The United States can appeal the ruling.

Nonbank financial institutions designated as SIFIs by FSOC, the US interagency council formed under the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform act that is authorized to designate nonbank financial companies as being of risk to the US financial system, are subject to both supervision by the Federal Reserve Board and additional prudential standards with which they would have to comply.

FSOC has designated three other SIFIs in addition to MetLife: AIG, GE Capital Corporation and Prudential Financial.

Previous blog posts have described the administrative process leading up MetLife’s SIFI designation and the filing of the lawsuit in January 2015 contesting the SIFI designation.