Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin said his office discovered hundreds of retirees owed pension payments by MetLife Inc.
The regulator is also expanding its investigation to look into other large life insurers who make retirement payments, including Prudential Financial Inc., Transamerica, Principal Financial Group Inc. and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Galvin has sent letters to the retired workers informing them of the money that is due to them, according to a statement from his office.
His office determined in its investigation that some of the retirees involved are now dead, and that their beneficiaries are likely entitled to payments from MetLife. The average age of the residents affected by MetLife's failure to locate retirees is 72.
Galvin will be providing the information his office has gathered to MetLife, so that the company can immediately begin processing payments.
MetLife provided the names to Galvin's office after the regulator's securities division opened an investigation in December 2017, when the company announced that it had failed to make payments to thousands of retired workers because of its inability to locate them. MetLife had acquired the obligation to pay the employees' pensions from their former employers.
Through its own searches, the division has been able to identify better addresses for a majority of the Massachusetts retirees affected.
