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Manulife Financial sells life and health insurance and products that combine insurance with saving for the future, principally in Asia, Canada and the United States. Individuals pay premiums for protection and savings, while employers buy group coverage for their employees. Manulife invests assets backing its policies to earn income and meet future benefits and claims. Insurance and related investment income account for most revenue. It operates as Manulife in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States; Asian markets supply a substantial part of its revenue.
A separate business, Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, manages investments and retirement plans for individuals, employers and institutions. Clients pay for investment management and plan administration. Many fees move with account values, so this income depends on market performance and whether investors add or withdraw money.
Manulife relies on agents, advisers and bank partners to reach customers, including its exclusive regional insurance-distribution partnership with DBS Bank in Asia. Insurance earnings depend on claims, policy renewals and investment returns relative to the commitments made to policyholders. The parent company receives its principal cash flow from subsidiaries. Those regulated businesses must retain adequate capital and liquidity, and local laws can restrict how much cash they send to the parent.
The risk section is the longest, dullest part of the filing. This keeps only what can really hurt you: where it hits, how hard, when it plays out.
Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Sun Life competes with Manulife for insurance customers and individual and institutional investment assets across Canada, Asia and the United States. Its wealth and asset-management fee income offers a comparison for Manulife’s investment-management revenue.
Prudential plc competes with Manulife for life-insurance and investment customers in Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian markets. Watch its new insurance sales in Hong Kong and Macau and in Singapore for a comparison of demand in markets that matter to Manulife.
Prudential Financial and Manulife compete to sell life insurance and retirement products and manage investments for individuals and institutions in the United States and Asia. PGIM’s ability to attract and retain client investments offers a comparison for Manulife’s asset-management business, where client assets support fee income.
MetLife and Manulife compete to provide individuals and employers with insurance and retirement solutions, with substantial insurance businesses in Asia. MetLife’s Asia results offer a regional comparison, while its employee-benefits business provides another reference for Manulife’s insurance sold to employers.
Aegon overlaps with Manulife in North American distribution of life insurance, retirement and investment solutions, and in insurance for wealthy Asian customers. Watch its World Financial Group network’s sales of protection and investment products in the United States and Canada as a comparison for Manulife’s reach into households.
Principal competes with Manulife to manage employer retirement plans and investments for individual and institutional clients. Its workplace retirement-plan business is a useful comparison for Manulife’s retirement operation, the largest part of its wealth business by assets under management and administration at year-end 2025.
Voya competes with Manulife for U.S. employer retirement plans and investment-management work from institutions and individuals. Watch retirement participants’ net deposits and asset retention at Voya: those assets support its plan-administration and advisory fees and offer a comparison for Manulife’s retirement business.
Equitable Holdings and Manulife compete for individual and institutional customers through insurance-based retirement products, wealth advice and asset management. Equitable’s retirement-product sales and net flows show how its advice and investment businesses feed retirement savings, offering a comparison for Manulife’s insurance and wealth businesses.
RGA takes on 75% of the insurance risk in Manulife’s legacy U.S. long-term-care and structured-settlement blocks in return for premiums, while Manulife keeps administering the policies—an arrangement called reinsurance. RGA’s financial strength matters to its ability to meet those obligations; the U.S. transaction reduced Manulife’s 2025 core earnings by CAD 33 million compared with 2024.
Lincoln competes with Manulife’s John Hancock brand for U.S. life-insurance customers and with Manulife for employer retirement plans. Its services for employer-sponsored plans, including account recordkeeping and participant education, offer a focused comparison for Manulife’s workplace retirement business.
Corebridge competes with Manulife’s John Hancock brand in U.S. life insurance and with Manulife’s retirement business for workplace savings. Its Group Retirement results are the closer workplace comparison: that business contributed 20% of Corebridge’s associated adjusted pre-tax operating income in 2025.
Aflac offers a focused comparison for Manulife’s Japanese insurance operation because both sell health and life insurance there. Watch Aflac Japan’s supplemental-health sales and claims, which involve cash payments for medical expenses not covered by primary insurance, rather than treating its product mix as identical to Manulife’s.
Primerica competes for households served by Manulife’s insurance and wealth businesses, underwriting term life insurance and selling investment products mainly for third parties. Its independent representatives’ term-life and investment sales offer a comparison for household demand for protection and savings in North America.
Genworth and Manulife face similar claims and actuarial assumptions on legacy long-term-care policies that cover policyholders’ care needs. Watch claims and assumptions in Genworth’s Closed Block long-term-care business as a comparison for Manulife’s existing U.S. policies, rather than using Genworth’s new CareScout insurance sales.
Principal Financial Group, Inc. earningsPFG
Principal’s report will show whether its workplace retirement plans retain assets and earn fees, a direct comparison for Manulife’s largest wealth business by assets.
Watch asset retention and fee income in Principal’s workplace retirement plans. Stable assets and stronger fees would indicate employers and workers are continuing to entrust retirement savings to plan providers, supporting the market Manulife competes in; asset outflows or weaker fees would mean pressure on client assets and fee opportunities in that market.
Fed Interest Rate Decision
The Fed’s decision tracks its benchmark interest rate, which can shift market rates and change the value of Manulife’s variable-annuity guarantees and the effectiveness of their hedges, affecting earnings.
Expected4.0%Last release4.0%
If it comes in above expectations
If the rate is above expectations, higher market rates may reduce some guarantee liabilities, but because some exposures are not effectively hedged, hedge results may not move in step with those liabilities and could weigh on earnings.
If it comes in below expectations
If the rate is below expectations, lower market rates may increase some guarantee liabilities; because some exposures are not effectively hedged, hedge results may not offset the increase, potentially weighing on earnings.
Manulife Financial Corp. earningsThis company
Manulife earns from insurance services, investment income and wealth-management fees, and this report will show whether core earnings growth is supported by new insurance business and asset-management fees.
Read core earnings alongside new-business measures and Global Wealth and Asset Management’s net flows and fee income. Rising core earnings with stronger new-business value and fee income would show that new policies and client assets are broadening the earnings base; if core earnings rise while new-business measures, net flows or fees weaken, growth is less rooted in new sales and client assets.
Genworth Financial, Inc. earningsGNW
Genworth’s legacy long-term-care claims and assumption changes offer a comparison for claims risk in Manulife’s existing U.S. long-term-care policies.
Watch claims in Genworth’s Closed Block long-term-care business and whether it changes related assumptions. Stable claims and assumptions would suggest costs on comparable legacy policies may be manageable; rising claims or weaker assumptions would highlight continuing claims and reserve risk for Manulife’s U.S. policies, though the two portfolios are not identical.
