Feb 14 (Reuters) - MetLife Inc, the largest U.S. life insurer, said it has received approvals from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to deregister as a bank holding company.

The company started the process of dropping the registration after closing the sale of its deposit-taking business to a unit of General Electric's GE Capital last month.

MetLife shares were down 2.5 percent at $36.58 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, a day after the company posted a 90 percent fall in quarterly profit.

(Reporting by Aman Shah in Bangalore) Keywords: METLIFE BANKHOLDING/

(aman.shah@thomsonreuters.com)(within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800)(Reuters Messaging: aman.shah.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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