Manulife Financial Corporation 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 Financial" and in the United States
primarily through its John Hancock division.
It is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world by market capitalization, and
has approximately 84,000 employees.
Manulife Bank of Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation.
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.
In 1901, Manulife amalgamated with the Temperance and General Life Assurance Company, a Toronto-based
Canadian life insurer that provided preferred rates to abstainers of alcohol.
Manulife continued to offer abstainers rates into the 1920s.
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.
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.
In 1996, the company entered an agreement with the Zhong Hong Life Insurance Co. Ltd.,
based in Shanghai, to form China’s first joint venture life insurance company, Manulife-Sinochem.
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.
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.
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 to be allowed re-entry into
China.
Demutualization and public company In 1999, its voting eligible policyholders
approved demutualization, and the shares of Manulife Financial Corporation, the holding
company of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, began trading
on The Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the Philippine Stock Exchange
under the ticker 'MFC', and on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong under the ticker ‘945’.
In 2002, Manulife–Sinochem Life Insurance Co. Ltd. was granted approval by the China
Insurance Regulatory Commission 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.
In 2003, Manulife Financial Corporation and John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. 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.
In 2013 Richard DeWolfe became the Chair of the company’s board, succeeding Gail Cook-Bennett,
who retired after serving 34 years on the board.
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.
In September 2009, the company purchased AIC’s Canadian retail investment fund business.
In October 2009, it purchased Pottruff & Smith Travel Insurance Brokers Inc., a Canadian
broker and third party administrator of travel insurance.
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., 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..
In June 2012, the company opened Manulife Cambodia, with headquarters in Phnom Penh.
In September 2014, Manulife agreed to acquire the Canadian operations of Standard Life for
a fee of around $3.7 billion.
Awards 2013 and 2014 – named to the Dow Jones Sustainability
North American Index 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 2010 through 2013 – named one of Canada’s
Top 100 Employers 2012 – Manulife Investments received the
Order of Excellence Award from Excellence Canada
2012 – President and CEO Donald Guloien named 2012 International Business Executive
of the Year 2010 – Manulife Financial recognized on
the 2010 Investor 500 ranking by Canadian Business magazine
2010 – Manulife-Sinochem received an award of excellence from the State Council National
Economic Census Commission Sponsorship
Manulife Financial 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.
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.
Sponsor of Pathways To Education Canada, a program focused on reducing high school dropout
rates in low-income communities.
Manulife Japan is a sponsor of Hoshi General Hospital’s “Manulife Waku Waku Room”
project, providing psychological support for children receiving medical care.
Title sponsor of the Manulife Walk for Memories, benefitting the Alzheimer Society of Toronto.
References
External links Manulife Financial Corporate website
Manulife Financial Corporation at The Canadian Encyclopedia