MetLife Inc. is giving a boost to the new dollar fundingbenchmark that's been designed to replace LIBOR, with the U.S.insurer selling a $1 billion bond tied to the secured overnightfinancing rate (SOFR).

A debt-issuing unit of the company sold two-year floating-ratenotes linked to SOFR, according to a person familiar with thematter, who asked not to be identified because they're notauthorized to speak about it. It is the first such transaction ofbenchmark size from a company that isn't either a top-ratedsovereign, supranational, or agency issuer.

SOFR, which was developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of NewYork as a dollar-market alternative to the beleaguered Londoninterbank offered rate (LIBOR), has been gaining traction recentlywith financial institutions. Fannie Mae, Credit Suisse, Barclays, and the World Bank have each soldvarious types of SOFR-linked debt previously.