Manulife riding high off the back of record-breaking year

How did Manulife perform in Asia in 2015, and what was Manulife Vietnam’s contribution towards this result?

Manulife performed strongly in Asia in 2015. We enjoyed our third consecutive year of record insurance sales, with figures rising 28 per cent year-on-year to $1.5 billion. Wealth and asset management gross flows in Asia jumped 56 per cent year-on-year to $12.2 billion.

There were a number of highlights to celebrate in Asia including the launch in January this year of our exclusive 15-year distribution partnership with DBS in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and mainland China, providing access to six million customers.

In 2015, we activated a ten-year exclusive partnership with Saigon Commercial Bank in Vietnam. We also signed a 15-year partnership deal with Standard Chartered Bank to become its exclusive Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) provider in Hong Kong, as well as to buy its existing MPF and Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO) businesses, and the related investment management entity.

We launched ManulifeMOVE in Hong Kong and Macau (and in the Philippines in January this year) – a wellness activity that rewards customers for active living. We also started serving customers in China through WeChat, the country’s most popular social media mobile app.

Here in Vietnam, Manulife (Vietnam) Limited’s annual premium equivalent grew 69 per cent year-on-year in 2015. We were able to reach out to more customers as we increased the number of agents to 20,100, which is an increase of 15 per cent from 2014. We also increased our footprint in the country and opened nine new sales offices. We now have 45 offices across 32 provinces.

Last year, Manulife Vietnam diversified its distribution channel by launching Direct Marketing & Tele-Marketing (DMTM). It also grew its bancassurance and agency channels. How do these channels contribute to the success of the company?

Having diversified channels is a key part of our global strategy for Manulife, including here in Vietnam. We recognise that we need to engage with our customers in a way they that want to be engaged in, whether that is through direct marketing, banks, or agents.

Last year, we launched Direct Marketing and Tele-Marketing (DMTM) in Vietnam, opening four DMTM offices in Ho Chi Minh City. This channel contributed two per cent of sales revenues in Vietnam in 2015. Sales from DMTM are expected to increase further going forward.

We also grew our bancassurance channel through our exclusive partnership with Saigon Commercial Bank. The partnership adds to our existing bank partnerships, which include Techcombank, ANZ, and VP Bank. We have launched several successful customer-centric initiatives through our partnerships, including SMS alert services and priority helplines for customers.

While we continue to raise the number of agents we have in Vietnam, we are also heavily focused on the quality of their training.

In 2015, Manulife had 455 Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) qualified agents in Vietnam, the highest number of MDRT members in the life insurance industry nationwide. MDRT represents the elite of financial services professionals around the world.

This is important as we transform our agency model to ensure we have advisors who provide solutions rather than merely push products.

What are Manulife’s strategies for the future? Where does Vietnam feature in them?

Our global strategy is focused on providing an unsurpassed customer experience.

The insurance industry in Asia has traditionally offered a poor customer experience and so there’s a real opportunity to simplify it and provide holistic life, health, and wealth solutions that meet customers’ needs on their terms and preferred access points.

In addition to some of the solutions and distribution capabilities I’ve highlighted, providing market-leading digital customer service is also a key part of our strategy here in Vietnam and the wider Asia region.

Customers around the world are increasingly using digital tools to do everything, so the digital imperative is no longer in question.

In Vietnam we’ve embraced the digital trend by launching a new customer website in the first quarter of this year, which enables customers to check the policies they hold with the company.

We also launched Manu-Ipro, an electronic sales tool for our financial advisors that helps them with their initial consultations with customers. Manu-Ipro provides simplified information about products, as well as sales illustrations.

What is the Manulife Financial Corporation’s commitment to the development of Vietnam?

Manulife is fully committed to Vietnam. As the first fully-owned life insurer to enter the country, our vision is to help customers achieve their dreams and aspirations, and in Vietnam we’re doing that by providing innovative solutions.

Fitting recognitions of our commitment to Vietnam include the Certificate of Merit award we were granted last year by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, and the Certificate of Merit award we received from the Ministry of Finance in March of this year.

These awards recognise the role Manulife plays in developing the country’s life insurance industry, as well as our strong corporate social responsibility efforts which include education, healthcare, and helping the disadvantaged segments of local communities.

Manulife is also the only life insurer in Vietnam that has partnered with the Vietnam Women’s Union to provide micro-insurance programmes to low-income women across the country. The policies help rural women who want to protect themselves and their families from the risks associated with accidents, diseases, and death.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, Manulife injected VND175 billion ($7.85 million) in capital into its Vietnam operations, which demonstrated the company’s commitment to Vietnam’s insurance market.

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