the study tracks aptitude as well as attitudes

During the next 12 to 24 months, we expect DB plans to develop abroader view of the risks to which their plans may be exposed as demographicforces, regulatory pressures and market volatility combine to make pension planmanagement more challenging and more transparent." Gap Between Importance and Success ScoresIn addition to measuring the relative importance of the 18 risk factors, thePRBI tracks how well plan sponsors report that they are managing each area ofrisk - i.e., the study tracks aptitude as well as attitudes. Looking at thesetwo measures together, the PRBI shows a significant gap between "importance" and"success." Nearly two-thirds of the study respondents report some degree ofinconsistency between importance and success, and about one of every six reportssignificantly greater discrepancies. Of the 18 risk factors studied, eight weregiven an above-average importance score but below-average success score or viceversa. As a result, many plan sponsors may be missing the opportunity tomanage the array of risk factors applicable to their plan as optimally aspossible," added Mallett. "Against this backdrop, the potential for incompletedecision-making could be significant. Todays corporate plan sponsors should beencouraged more than ever to improve the processes by which they identify thefull range of short- and long-term risks associated with their plans, and theindustry has an opportunity to focus on the importance of developing tools andprotocols for managing these risks." MetLife U.S. Pension Risk Behavior IndexSM Score:A Baseline Measure with Roomfor ImprovementBy comparing the consistency of plan sponsors rankings for importance andsuccess, MetLife developed a PRBI score.

This score establishes a baseline for riskmanagement practices against which future changes may be measured. "The PRBI score leaves significant room for improvement," remarked Dev Cliffordfrom Greenwich Associates and Richard Dunne from Bdellium, Inc., two researcherswho collaborated with MetLife on the PRBI study. "It would be desirable to seeevery plan sponsor agreeing that they are addressing the risk factors that theybelieve are most important. While it is unrealistic to expect an index value of100, a score in excess of 87 is both achievable and desirable." Dr. Susan Mangiero of Pension Governance, Incorporated, who also collaboratedwith MetLife on the groundbreaking research, commented: "This research shouldbroaden awareness among plan sponsors of risk factors outside their presentcomfort zone, thereby enabling them to have a more balanced understanding oftheir plans dynamics." About the StudyThe MetLife U.S. Pension Risk Behavior IndexSM was conducted by three researchpartners - Greenwich Associates, Bdellium Inc and Pension Governance, Inc -during the period of June through August 2008.

The PRBI consists of aquantitative telephone survey of 168 large plan sponsors (73 of which reporteddefined benefit assets of more than $1 billion), supplemented by a series ofin-depth individual interviews and rigorous statistical analysis. Thequantitative portion of the study addressed 18 different investment, liabilityand business risks faced by DB plan sponsors. These risks were identified by apanel of industry experts and researchers, including: Bdellium Inc., GreenwichAssociates and Pension Governance, Incorporated. Greenwich Associates completedthe quantitative research for the PRBI, while the detailed analysis andqualitative interviews were conducted by Bdellium Inc and Pension Governance,Inc respectively. Respondents for all phases of the research consisted ofsenior financial professionals whose primary focus included finance, riskmanagement and investment policy. A complete report of the findings for the PRBI(and detailed description of the research methodology) is available at About MetLifeMetLife is a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc.