MetLife Tries Bank Cross-Selling Plan Via Mortgages

The ruined finances and reputation of many mortgage lenders is providing an opportunity for MetLife Inc.'s (MET) bank... MetLife's plan takes a page from the banking playbook: Offer mortgage loans with the well-known MetLife brand to high credit-scoring customers, then try to sell them traditional insurance products.

"A lot of our agents really like the bank," said Bill Wheeler, MetLife's chief financial officer, at the company's investor day in June. "We've had a very surprising level of success of cross-sell between Internet customers [to whom] we then say, 'Would you like to talk to a MetLife agent about your retirement needs and stuff like that?' And you'd be surprised how good it's been, but it's small still..."

WSJ: MetLife Tries Bank Cross-Selling Plan Via Mortgages