“Despite higher inflation, we still expect our direct expense ratio to be below 12.3% for the full year 2022.”

In context

“se more evident than in the grips of a pandemic. Over the course of 2021, COVID claims totaled $2 billion globally and $3 billion since the beginning of the pandemic. We cannot heal the pain of losing a loved one, but we can and do help families recover from the financial damage so that they can move forward. We are honored to be part of an industry that makes such a positive difference in people’s lives. Finally, 2021 was a year in which we continued to make progress on the pillars of our Next Horizon strategy. We remain focused on deploying capital to its most productive use. In the absence of attractive M&A opportunities, we returned significant capital to shareholders. We continued to simplify the company through strategic divestitures and further strengthening our operating leverage. Despite higher inflation, we still expect our direct expense ratio to be below 12.3% for the full year 2022. And we further differentiated MetLife with an entry into the financial wellness space called Upwise that allows us to connect directly with consumers and help them build the habits of financial success. MetLife continues to invest billions of dollars every year in organic growth with attractive payback periods and internal rates of return. But as we have said many times, we will not pursue growth for growth’s sake. When growth is attractive, whether organic or by acquisition, we will invest. When it is not, we will return capital to shareholders to redeploy elsewhere in the economy. We were pleased in 2021 to return a record of nearly $6 billion of capital to MetLife’s shareholders. We paid $1.6 billion in common stock dividends and repurchased $4.3 billion worth of common shares. Even af”