(Bloomberg) -- MetLife Inc., the New York-based insurer thattraces its roots to the 1860s, said it’s come up with a new namefor a U.S. retail unit that’s slated for separation.

The business will be known as Brighthouse Financial once it’sbroken off from the parent company, MetLife said Thursday in astatement. MetLife said in January that it would pursue a spinoff,sale or initial public offering for the unit and hasn’t yetannounced which path it will take.

The insurer is seeking to give a fresh identity to the U.S.operation that offers annuities and life policies to individuals, abusiness which will be led by Eric Steigerwalt. MetLife ChiefExecutive Officer Steve Kandarian is working to reshape the parentcompany to free up cash and focus on operations in Asia and LatinAmerica and the business selling insurance through employers.

“As a separate entity, Brighthouse will benefit from greaterfocus and more flexibility in products and operations,” Kandariansaid in the statement. “This separation will also bring significantbenefits to MetLife as we focus even more intently on our groupbusiness in the U.S., where we have long been the market leader, aswell as on our international operations.”

Voya, Synchrony

Financial firms have been forced to rebrand operations asbusinesses reorganize. Voya Financial Inc. took that name afterbeing separated from Dutch bank ING Groep NV. And General ElectricCo. rebranded a consumer-lending operation as Synchrony Financialand then spun it off.

“Our optimistic outlook on what we will create for people’sfinancial futures, coupled with our guiding principles ofsimplicity and transparency, are captured in our name,Brighthouse,” Steigerwalt said in the statement.

Kandarian’s company traces its roots to a company that insuredCivil War soldiers and sailors against wartime disabilities.MetLife opened for business in 1868, according to a history on thecompany’s website.

MetLife has been recognizable for years by the Snoopy andPeanuts characters it uses for marketing. That branding will stayat MetLife after the split, and the firm routinely evaluates theiruse, according to Meghan Lantier, a spokeswoman for the company.She said the company intends to keep the MetLife name on thefootball stadium used by the New York Jets and New York Giants.

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