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Although the biggest US life insurer dropped the most in eight years in New York trading after saying it will raise capital and cut jobs following a third-quarter profit decline of 48 per cent last week, Bob Sollmann, senior vice-president for its Retirement Strategies Group, emphasised that investing in retirement is still an essential in the market.

Mr Sollmann added that the equity release option - or in US terms, reverse mortgage - could also be an option that the firm is looking to expand in. He said: "Equity release is something of a last resort in the US, but there will be increasing benefits there, in order to fill the gap."

Mr Sollmann, who spoke at the MetLife UK Symposium in New York, believed that reaching out to the retirement community, where the average age for retirement in the US is 58-years-old, is more of a demand than ever.

He said: "Our focus is launching and navigating for people 50-plus, where they are three to five years away from retirement. But different benefit pension plans are going away at an alarming rate. This could be due to the fact that most advisers do not have the conversation about saving for retirement, as they do not have the expertise and there is an assumption that Medicare will pick up most of the expense.

"Because baby boomers have grown up in this environment, it is an interesting game plan. There are no large obligations to buy into annuities in the US, but variable annuities are a choice for people who want some guarantees for the future. For people who want income now, variable annuities is and should be attractive."

Mr Sollmann also stressed that emphasis on the return on investment is now on the reliability of income.

He said: "Our goal is to maximise the relability of income. We also believe a combination of insurance and investment, is very powerful. For people who think they will continue to live, the opportunity to improve lifestyle with more income today and to protect yourself before running out of money, it is a very powerful idea.

"The way we look at long-term care, if you are a rational investor you really should be investing for the future expenses. Having this kind of 'back stop' might encourage people to prepare for their retirement years."

With the recent AIG downfall in the insurance midst, Metlife stood by its current offerings as the largest insurer in North America.

A MetLife spokesman said: "The issues that arose from AIG do not come from insurance opportunities that we offer. Our base is quite different from theirs. What brought them down is what we are not involved or engaged in."