“That said, we believe our results in Q1 position us well to achieve our full year direct expense ratio target of 12.1%, demonstrating our ongoing expense discipline and a sustained efficiency mindset.”

In context

“rly part of July. We are doing this for the second quarter given the current environment. On Page 6, we provide VII post-tax by Segment and corporate and other for the four quarters of 2024 and first quarter of '25. As reflected in the chart, RIS, Asia and MetLife Holdings continue to hold the largest proportion of VII assets given their long-dated liability profiles. However, as a reminder, each business has its own discrete portfolio aligned and matched to its liabilities. Moving to expenses on Page 7. This chart shows a comparison of direct expense ratio for the full year 2024 of 12.1%, Q1 of '24 of 11.9% and Q1 of '25 of 12%. As we have highlighted previously, we believe our full year direct expense ratio is the best way to measure performance due to fluctuations in quarterly results. That said, we believe our results in Q1 position us well to achieve our full year direct expense ratio target of 12.1%, demonstrating our ongoing expense discipline and a sustained efficiency mindset. I will now discuss our cash and capital position on Page 8. Overall, MetLife is well capitalized with more than ample liquidity. We opportunistically repurchased about $1.4 billion of our shares in the first quarter and have repurchased approximately $150 million of our shares in April. And as we announced yesterday, our Board has authorized a new $3 billion share repurchase program reflecting the collective confidence in our New Frontier strategy and the strength of our balance sheet as well as management's commitment to return excess capital to our shareholders. Cash and liquid assets at the holding companies were $4.5 billion at March 31, which is above our target cash buffer of $3 billion to $4 billion. Beyond repurchases. Cash at the holding companies reflects the net effects of subs”