Last month, Manulife appointed former chief financial officer Phil Witherington as president and CEO of its Asian business, which accounts for about 35 per cent of its overall profits.
“In Hong Kong, our sales were double what they were the year prior,” Mr. Gori said. “Part of that was because of the reopening of the border with China, but even if you take out the cross-border sales, Hong Kong sales were up quite considerably and that is very encouraging.” “In China, we hear about the potential stalls to the recovery, but our second quarter was the strongest second quarter on record in China and I think that does demonstrate the robust emergence from the pandemic,” he added. Those sales will continue to rise, he added, as the insurer captures a greater share of mainland Chinese visitor sales.
The global division currently manages about $819-billion in assets, a 1-per-cent increase from the same quarter last year, driven by the acquisition of full ownership interest in Manulife Fund Management in mainland China.