Modernization will be a priority for Roy Gori when he succeeds Donald Guloien in the top job next month
Incoming Manulife CEO Roy Gori has identified modernization as a key goal for the company as he prepares to take the reins from Donald Guloien.
Speaking at the Scotiabank Financials Summit in Toronto on Thursday, Gori explained that the life insurance industry still existed in “the dark ages” in comparison to many other sectors.
“If you apply for an insurance product you’ll get a 16-page application form with 120 questions more often than not,” he said. “It’s still very paper-based, very manual and, as a result, our industry net promoter scores are really very poor.”
It is a major reason many consumers elect to go without life insurance coverage, and is something Manulife and its competitors need to address right away, he added.
“The big challenge our industry faces is that we have to evolve to be a much more customer-centric industry – one that takes the customers’ interests much more to heart and drives processes from a customer-centric perspective,” he said. “I think, quite frankly, that our industry has not done a very good job there.”
Gori was selected for the top job with Canada’s largest life insurer after distinguishing himself as senior executive vice-president and general manager of Manulife’s Asia Division. Asia is a key growth driver for the firm, but as Gori outlined, such success did not come easy.
“While everyone gets excited about Asia, they think they can put up a shingle overnight and just do business,” he said. “You really can’t – you have to have the history and legacy of being in those markets and see through the various economic cycles, the good times and the bad. Many CEOs before myself or even Donald had continued investment and focus in Asia that we are now bearing the benefit and fruit from.”
Such investment has allowed Manulife to build up a large team of agents to bring insurance and wealth products to the general public. Asia has a growing middle class and potentially tens of millions of customers for life insurers. A distribution network needs to reflect that, but as Gori reveals, Manulife is far from the leader when it comes to agents in the region.
“We really have some very strong capabilities,” he said. “Asia is renowned for large agency numbers – one of our competitors has 1.5 million agents, the population of a small country. We are delighted that we have 70,000 agents, it allows us to focus on quality and consistency and meeting customer needs.”
Celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, Manulife has had a presence in Asia for 120 years. Strong bonds have been developed in that time, which explains how its business has been able to thrive on the continent.
“The fact we have been there for 120 years means that we understand the markets we operate in,” said Gori. “We have an established brand that’s very credible in the marketplace and we have established relationships with the regulators and trust that quite frankly you can’t build over five or ten years.”
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Speaking at the Scotiabank Financials Summit in Toronto on Thursday, Gori explained that the life insurance industry still existed in “the dark ages” in comparison to many other sectors.
“If you apply for an insurance product you’ll get a 16-page application form with 120 questions more often than not,” he said. “It’s still very paper-based, very manual and, as a result, our industry net promoter scores are really very poor.”
It is a major reason many consumers elect to go without life insurance coverage, and is something Manulife and its competitors need to address right away, he added.
“The big challenge our industry faces is that we have to evolve to be a much more customer-centric industry – one that takes the customers’ interests much more to heart and drives processes from a customer-centric perspective,” he said. “I think, quite frankly, that our industry has not done a very good job there.”
Gori was selected for the top job with Canada’s largest life insurer after distinguishing himself as senior executive vice-president and general manager of Manulife’s Asia Division. Asia is a key growth driver for the firm, but as Gori outlined, such success did not come easy.
“While everyone gets excited about Asia, they think they can put up a shingle overnight and just do business,” he said. “You really can’t – you have to have the history and legacy of being in those markets and see through the various economic cycles, the good times and the bad. Many CEOs before myself or even Donald had continued investment and focus in Asia that we are now bearing the benefit and fruit from.”
Such investment has allowed Manulife to build up a large team of agents to bring insurance and wealth products to the general public. Asia has a growing middle class and potentially tens of millions of customers for life insurers. A distribution network needs to reflect that, but as Gori reveals, Manulife is far from the leader when it comes to agents in the region.
“We really have some very strong capabilities,” he said. “Asia is renowned for large agency numbers – one of our competitors has 1.5 million agents, the population of a small country. We are delighted that we have 70,000 agents, it allows us to focus on quality and consistency and meeting customer needs.”
Celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, Manulife has had a presence in Asia for 120 years. Strong bonds have been developed in that time, which explains how its business has been able to thrive on the continent.
“The fact we have been there for 120 years means that we understand the markets we operate in,” said Gori. “We have an established brand that’s very credible in the marketplace and we have established relationships with the regulators and trust that quite frankly you can’t build over five or ten years.”
Related stories:
Manulife and Sun Life build momentum in 2Q
Manulife names new successor as CEO announces retirement
