New York Life Building at 51 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, designed by American architect Cass Gilbert, opened in December 1928. The company moved into the 34-story skyscraper in 1929. Later that year, New York Life's assets survived the stock market crash; state regulation and company investing policy had led New York Life to invest in government bonds and real estate, not common stocks. Following World War II, New York Life further diversified; it invested in real estate development in the late 1940s and launched a mortgage-loan program for veterans in 1946. In 1957, New York Life hired one of the industry's first black agents, Cirilo McSween. In the 1970s, New York Life began selling annuities and mutual funds. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, as other mutual life insurance companies became publicly traded corporations, New York Life remained a mutual company. New York Life entered the Mexican market in 1999 when it acquired Seguros Monterrey from Aetna. Recent history New York Life, along with other insurance companies, relaxed the claims process for missing persons in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Fearful of the stability of the market during the two years prior to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, New York Life moved its cash into other investments such as treasury bonds. In the ensuing financial crisis, New York Life Insurance Company rejected assistance from the U.S. Treasury Department. Following the 2013 acquisition of Dexia Asset Management, later renamed Candriam Investors Group, New York Life Investments became one of the largest asset managers worldwide, with access to markets in Europe, Asia and Australia, in addition to the United States. In November 2021, the company announced that company president Craig DeSanto was replacing CEO Ted Mathas, The transition was finalized in April 2022, and Mathas stayed with the company as a non-executive chairman. Operations As of 2016, New York Life Insurance Company was the country's third-largest life insurance company. A mutual insurance company, New York Life is owned by its policyholders and has no outside shareholders. As a mutual, New York Life distributes a portion of its earnings to eligible policyholders as annual dividends. As of 2016, the company has paid a dividend every year since 1854. Through Seguros Monterrey New York Life, the company offers insurance in Mexico. New York Life's core product is whole life insurance, a type of life insurance offering lifelong protection that builds cash