The company said the growth rate of its sales force was “significantly higher than the market average for the period”, of about 5.7%.
Michael Huddart, executive vice president and chief executive of Manulife Hong Kong, said reaching the 5,000-agent milestone was both an achievement in itself as well as “a demonstration of our determination to continue expanding our agency force”.
The company also highlighted the fact that nearly a quarter of its sales agents had been with the company for more than a decade, and noted that two had been with the company for more than 50 years.
It said it would continue to invest in agency training and development, in order to better serve its 1.6 million clients.
News of Manulife’s 5,000-member-strong sales force comes less than five months after it was reported to be planning to recruit “thousands more agents” in Hong Kong, as it looked to grow its business there and ramp up its share of the mandatory provident fund (MPF) market.
In Hong Kong, Manulife is the No. 2 MPF player, behind HSBC. The mandatory provident fund is Hong Kong’s compulsory retirement savings scheme, which is overseen by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority.
115-year presence
Manulife Hong Kong is a part of Toronto-based Manulife Financial, which has operations in 21 countries, and is listed on a number of stock exchanges, including the TSX and NYSE.
The Manulife name comes from "Manufacturers Life Insurance Company", as it used to be known. Founded in 1887, the company has had a presence in Hong Kong for 115 years – longer than it has been in the US.
Among its Hong Kong clients are some of an estimated 290,000 Canadians who currently live there, many of whom were originally Hong Kong Chinese who have recently returned to the former British colony following its handover to China in 1997.
