FILE PHOTO: A statue stands atop Grand Central Station in front of the MetLife building in New York, October 8, 2008. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

(Reuters) - U.S. insurer MetLife Inc MET.N said on Tuesday John Hele has retired as chief financial officer and will be succeeded by the company's treasurer John McCallion.

McCallion, 44, takes over as CFO on Tuesday, a day before MetLife is to report first-quarter 2018 earnings. Hele, 59, is expected to stay at MetLife as senior adviser until September.

In 2017 MetLife disclosed two key financial reporting errors, including payments it failed to make to pensioners whom it could not locate after taking over their plans from private companies.

MetLife cut Hele’s total 2017 compensation by 6.4 percent, to $5.3 million from $5.7 million, a change that reflected the insurer’s “performance in managing financial matters, including material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting,” the company said in an April 26 proxy statement..

A MetLife spokesman declined to comment on whether the errors had spurred Hele’s retirement. He had been with the company for nearly 10 years.

“I want to thank John Hele for his service as CFO and for bringing a sharper focus on the true economics of the business we write,” MetLife Chief Executive Steven Kandarian said in a statement.

In March, MetLife said it uncovered a reserve miscalculation for a Japanese annuity product during a review it launched in late 2017 and completed early this year.

McCallion joined MetLife in July, 2006. He has served as head of investor relations and CFO for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, among other roles. McCallion has also worked at the insurance audit practice of PwC.

MetLife, also on Tuesday, named Stephen Gauster as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Gauster joined the company in 2016.