MassMutual to close Charlotte operation, move hundreds of jobs

Feb. 09--Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company said it plans to relocate a large Charlotte operation to Massachusetts as part of a U.S.-wide consolidation project.

MassMutual expects to relocate its roughly 300 corporate employees in south Charlotte to Massachusetts by 2019, spokeswoman Laura Crisco told the Observer. Positions will go to either the company's Springfield headquarters or Boston, she said.

Affected roles include those in accounting and finance, as well as call center and investment services, Crisco said. MassMutual sales and advisory offices are not impacted, she said.

The action is part of a MassMutual announcement this week of plans to expand the firm's footprint in its home state, where it expects to increase its workforce by approximately 70 percent by the end of 2021. MassMutual said it plans to retain other offices only in New York, Phoenix and Amherst, Mass.

In 2016, MassMutual announced plans to buy MetLife's U.S. retail adviser force, which included an operation employing about 200 in Ballantyne Corporate Park. Prior to that acquisition, MassMutual did not have operations in Charlotte, Crisco said.

MetLife was seeking to sell the force as part of the insurer's plan to separate itself from a large portion of its U.S. retail business, which the company headquartered in Ballantyne in exchange for millions of dollars in state incentives awarded in 2013.

New York-based MetLife spun off that retail business last year as Brighthouse Financial, which is headquartered in Charlotte.

In this week's announcement, MassMutual said it was investing nearly $300 million in its expansion in Massachusetts, where it will add 2,000 jobs over the next four years. That includes 1,500 at its corporate headquarters in Springfield, in addition to building a new Boston campus.

The firm said it is expanding in Massachusetts because the state provides it with everything it needs to best serve its policyowners in the future, including a highly skilled workforce.

Not affected by this week's announcement are the Charlotte operations of Barings, an asset manager that is part of MassMutual. Crisco said the Barings operation in Charlotte has about 450 employees.

In November, Barings held a ribbon-cutting for its new corporate headquarters tower at the corner of Third and South Tryon streets, overlooking Romare Bearden Park and BB&T Ballpark.

Deon Roberts: 704-358-5248, @DeonERoberts

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