“In terms of statutory capital for our U.S. companies, we expect our combined 2021 NAIC RBC ratio will be above our 360% target.”

In context

“hich was up from $5.1 billion at September 30 and remains above our target cash buffer of $3 billion to $4 billion. The sequential increase in cash at the holding companies reflects the net effects of subsidiary dividends, payment of our common stock dividend, share repurchases of $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter as well as holding company expenses and other cash flows. In 2021, we returned approximately $6 billion to shareholders, the most in any year through share repurchases and common stock dividends. For the 2-year period 2020 and 2021, our average free cash flow ratio excluding notable items, totaled 59%, while the ratio was below our 65% to 75% target range, due to the strength of our adjusted earnings in 2021. Our statutory free cash flow in absolute dollar terms remains strong. In terms of statutory capital for our U.S. companies, we expect our combined 2021 NAIC RBC ratio will be above our 360% target. Preliminary 2021 statutory operating earnings for our U.S. companies were approximately $5 billion, while net income was approximately $3.8 billion. We estimate that our total U.S. statutory adjusted capital was $19.1 billion as of December 31, 2021, an increase of 12% year-over-year. Favorable operating earnings and net investment gains were partially offset by derivative losses and dividends paid to the holding company. Finally, the Japan solvency margin ratio was 911% as of September 30, which is the latest public data. Before I shift to our near-term outlook on Page 11, a few points on what we included in the appendix. The chart on Page 16 reflects new business value metrics for MetLife’s major segments from 2016 through 2020. This is the same chart that we showed as part of our 3Q ‘2”