Manulife Financial

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Manulife
Public
Traded as TSX: MFC
NYSE: MFC
SEHK: 945
PSE: MFC
Industry Financial Services (Insurance)
Founded 1887
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people
 Donald Guloien, President and Chief Executive Officer
Richard DeWolfe, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Revenue Increase $54,522 million CAD (2014)
Increase $3,501 million CAD (2014)
Number of employees
 29,000 employees and 53,000 agents
Website http://www.manulife.com/

Manulife or Manulife Financial is a Canadian insurance company and financial services provider, with a head office in Toronto, Canada. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" and in the United States primarily through its John Hancock division.[2] As of November 2014, it employed approximately 29,800 people and had 53,000 agents under contract.[3]

Manulife Bank of Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manulife. Most recently, Manulife was one of the founding members of the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX).

History

Private stock company

The firm was founded as The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company in 1887. Its first president was Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. The company sold its first policy outside of Canada in Bermuda in 1893. In 1894, policies were sold in Grenada, Jamaica and Barbados; Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti in 1895; and British Honduras, British Guiana, China and Hong Kong in 1897.[4][5]

In 1901, Manulife amalgamated with the Temperance and General Life Assurance Company,[6] a Toronto-based Canadian life insurer that provided preferred rates to abstainers of alcohol. Manulife continued to offer abstainers rates into the 1920s.[7]

In 1931, it opened its first southern China branch in British Hong Kong. Shortly thereafter, it established itself as a leading life insurer in the region with branches in Macau, Shantou and Amoy.[8]

Mutual company

In 1958, shareholders voted to change its legal form from a joint stock company to a mutual organization, making the company privately owned by its policyholders.[9][10] In 1984, Manulife announced that it had acquired Waterloo, Ontario-based Dominion Life Assurance Company: a deal that included the purchase of all of the outstanding stock of the company from Lincoln National.[11][12] Dominion Life was founded in Waterloo in 1889, and Manulife made a commitment to the community to retain a significant presence in Waterloo. In 1988, Manulife opened a new five-storey office building at 500 King St. North in Waterloo to house its Canadian Division.[13]

In 1996, the company entered an agreement with Sinochem to form Shanghai -based Zhong Hong Life Insurance Co. Ltd., China’s first joint venture life insurance company, and was granted a license that made it the second foreign insurer[14] to be allowed re-entry into China.[15]

Demutualization and public company

In 1999, its voting eligible policyholders approved demutualization, and the shares of Manulife, the holding company of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, began trading on The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) under the ticker 'MFC', and on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) under the ticker ‘945’.[16]

In 2002, Manulife–Sinochem Life Insurance Co. Ltd. was granted approval by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to open a branch office in Guangzhou, China, the first branch license granted to a foreign invested joint–venture life insurance company. In 2003, Manulife-Sinochem received approval for a branch office in Beijing, the first multiple-branch license granted to a foreign-invested joint venture life insurance company. The firm is now licensed to operate in more than 50 Chinese cities.[16]

In 2003, Manulife and John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. (including its Canadian subsidiary Maritime Life) announced a tax–free stock–for–stock merger of the companies, creating a global insurance franchise. Completed in April 2004, the merger created the largest life insurer in Canada, second largest in North America, and fifth largest in the world at the time.[16]

In 2013 Richard DeWolfe became the Chair of the company’s board,[17] succeeding Gail Cook-Bennett, who retired after serving 34 years on the board.[18] In 2009, Donald Guloien, the Chief Investment Officer, succeeded Dominic D’Alessandro as President and CEO of the company. Shortly before his departure, D’Alessandro modified his retirement package; the restricted units would only vest for a total of $10 million if the shares reached $36 by the end of 2011, and he would receive $5 million if the shares hit $30. This was in response to shareholders’ reaction to the first quarterly loss ever posted by the firm in its public history. Under Guloien's leadership, the first initiatives were a dividend cut and an equity offering to bolster Manulife's capital levels, making it difficult for the share price to reach the target levels needed to vest.[19]

In September 2009, the company purchased AIC’s Canadian retail investment fund business.[20] In October 2009, it purchased Pottruff & Smith Travel Insurance Brokers Inc., a Canadian broker and third party administrator of travel insurance.[21]

In 2010, the company announced that it had purchased Fortis Bank SA/NV’s1 49 per cent ownership in ABN AMRO TEDA Fund Management Co. Ltd. The new joint venture, Manulife TEDA Fund Management Company Ltd. (Manulife TEDA), provides traditional retail and institutional asset management for clients in China. The other 51 per cent is owned by Northern International Trust, part of Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co., Ltd. (TEDA).[22]

In June 2012, the company opened Manulife Cambodia, with headquarters in Phnom Penh.[23][24]

In September 2014, Manulife agreed to acquire the Canadian operations of Standard Life for a fee of around $3.7 billion.[25]

In 2014, Manulife Financial simplified its logo and brand to refer to itself only as Manulife outside of the United States.[26]

In April 2015, the company announced a partnership with DBS Bank, providing Manulife exclusive access to DBS customers in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Indonesia in exchange for an initial payment of $1.2 billion USD.[27]

The company has recently revived discussions of listing a real estate investment trust (REIT) backed by its US office property portfolio on the Singapore Exchange. There were discussions to have the IPO last summer, however the economic climate was lacking for REITs.[28]

Awards

  • 2013 and 2014 – named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North American Index (Canada)
  • 2013 – The Manulife LPGA Classic received the Tournament Owners Association Gold Driver Award for Charity Promotion, with St. Mary’s General Hospital Foundation’s Red Day
  • 2012 and 2013 – named one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People (Canada)
  • 2010 through 2013 – named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers (Canada)[29]
  • 2012 – Manulife Investments received the Order of Excellence Award from Excellence Canada (Canada)
  • 2012 – President and CEO Donald Guloien named 2012 International Business Executive of the Year (Canada)
  • 2010 – Manulife recognized on the 2010 Investor 500 ranking by Canadian Business magazine (Canada)
  • 2010 – Manulife-Sinochem received an award of excellence from the State Council National Economic Census Commission (China)

Sponsorship

Manulife Plaza, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
  • Manulife was worldwide sponsor for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The sponsorship was acquired along with John Hancock Financial Services.
  • Manulife is the namesake tenant in the tallest building in Edmonton, Alberta, Manulife Place.
  • In 2010, Manulife partnered with Volunteer Canada and launched its “Get Volunteering” platform to provide Canadians with tools to find volunteer experiences, officially adopting volunteerism as the signature cause of its corporate social investment program.[30]
  • Title sponsor of the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic since 2012.
  • Manulife is the parent company of John Hancock Financial, which has been a principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon since 1986.[31][32][33]
  • Sponsor of Pathways To Education Canada, a program focused on reducing high school dropout rates in low-income communities.[34]
  • Manulife Japan is a sponsor of Hoshi General Hospital’s “Manulife Waku Waku Room” project, providing psychological support for children receiving medical care.[35]
  • Title sponsor of the Manulife Walk for Memories, benefitting the Alzheimer Society of Toronto.

References

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  25. ↑ Manulife to buy Standard Life's Canadian assets for $3.7 billion. Reuters, 4 September 2014
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External links

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