MetLife to sell mortgage servicing portfolio to JPMorgan

The MetLife building is seen in New York, March 8, 2010.

(Reuters) - MetLife Inc (MET.N), the largest U.S. life insurer, said it will sell MetLife Bank's mortgage servicing portfolio to a unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) for an undisclosed amount, as it looks to exit its bank holding structure.

The $70 billion servicing portfolio will increase JPMorganChase Bank's $1.1 trillion servicing business by more than 5 percent, MetLife said in a statement.

MetLife said in a regulatory filing last Wednesday that it had begun exploring the sale of MetLife Bank's forward mortgage servicing assets and operation, and was reporting the business as divested. link.reuters.com/pyp73t

The Federal Reserve last month extended the deadline for MetLife to resubmit its capital plans while the company works to complete the sale of its bank deposit-taking operations to GE Capital.

MetLife has a bank holding company charter because of its banking unit and is therefore overseen by the Fed. In March, the company failed a stress test and was blocked by the U.S. central bank from raising its dividend or buying back shares.

MetLife shares closed at $34.70 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Aman Shah in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva)