Manulife Phils combined sales up 15% in Q3

Sales of Manulife Philippines products has grown in the third quarter with combined life and pre-need sales growing by 15 percent compared with the same quarter in the previous year.

Sales of pre-need products grew by 48 percent over the same quarter last year.

Client confidence remains high as premiums and deposits for the quarter grew by 14 percent compared with last year and assets under management (AUMs) grew by 32 percent from a year ago.

Manulife Financial received regulatory approval last August for its purchase of The Pramerica Life Insurance Co. Inc. (Pramerica Life) in the Philippines from Prudential Financial USA (Prudential Financial).

"This transaction is the fifth of its kind in the country for our company, reinforcing Manulife’s longstanding commitment to grow its insurance business in the Philippines," Carl Gustini, president and chief executive officer of Manulife Philippines, said in a statement.

Manulife was ranked among the top five life insurance companies in the Philippines, and among the top 10 in the pre-need industry.

Meanwhile, Manulife Financial Corp. reported record shareholders’ net income of $975 million for the third quarter of 2006, and earnings per share of $0.62. Return on common shareholders’ equity was 16.6 percent for the quarter.

Shareholders’ earnings of $975 million were up 31 percent over reported earnings last year and earnings per share increased by 32 percent.

The third quarter of 2005 included $198 million of property and casualty reinsurance losses related to Hurricane Katrina and a $65-million gain on the recognition of future tax assets in Japan.

The $60-million negative impact of the strengthened Canadian dollar and the unfavorable resolution of a John Hancock pre-merger tax assessment ($36 million) both reduced earnings for the quarter. However, these reductions were more than offset by investment related gains, higher fee income related to the growth in funds under management in the wealth management businesses and favorable claims experience in the life insurance businesses.

Year-to-date shareholders’ net income was $2.891 billion compared to $2.3 billion in 2005.