Asian markets have Canadian insurer looking outside the country for growth
Asia will soon bring in more revenue than its home country of Canada, keyed by double-digit growth that should win back investors that is still feeling the effects of the 2008 market crash.
“We had a big reset,” said Donald Guloien, CEO of Manulife Financial Corp. “We scared a lot of people, quite honestly. It takes a long time to earn back some of the trust that eroded there.”
Demand for insurance and asset-management services in China, Japan and other parts of Asia will contribute to overall earnings growth of at least 10% over the next few years.
Guloien told Bloomberg News that diversification and growth outside Canada is set to drive profit, yields and rewards for shareholders, adding that earnings growth should support a stock that plunged at the height of the 2008 crisis after the company cut its dividend in half and was forced to sell about $7.4 billion in equity and debt.
When Guloien took the helm of Manulife in 2009, it had about $400 billion in assets and a heavy reliance on stock market growth to fund regular payments to customers with variable annuity products.
Today, it has more than doubled its assets to $883 billion, seeding them around the world and across types, with a focus on managing money for third parties such as pension funds.
“We had a big reset,” said Donald Guloien, CEO of Manulife Financial Corp. “We scared a lot of people, quite honestly. It takes a long time to earn back some of the trust that eroded there.”
Demand for insurance and asset-management services in China, Japan and other parts of Asia will contribute to overall earnings growth of at least 10% over the next few years.
Guloien told Bloomberg News that diversification and growth outside Canada is set to drive profit, yields and rewards for shareholders, adding that earnings growth should support a stock that plunged at the height of the 2008 crisis after the company cut its dividend in half and was forced to sell about $7.4 billion in equity and debt.
When Guloien took the helm of Manulife in 2009, it had about $400 billion in assets and a heavy reliance on stock market growth to fund regular payments to customers with variable annuity products.
Today, it has more than doubled its assets to $883 billion, seeding them around the world and across types, with a focus on managing money for third parties such as pension funds.
