Manulife reported its first quarter results for the period ended March 31, 2025, delivering record insurance new business results and steady growth in book value per common share.
“We started the year with continued strong momentum, delivering record levels of insurance new business results this quarter. We generated double-digit growth in new business value across all insurance segments, led by Asia with a 43% increase year over year, demonstrating broad-based strength in our top-line results,” said Manulife president and CEO Roy Gori.
Core earnings decreased modestly on a constant exchange rate basis, as continued business growth in Global wealth and asset management and Asia was offset by strengthened provisions related to expected credit loss (ECL) of $45m post-tax in 1Q2512, compared with a net release of $8m post-tax in 1Q2412, and a provision for the California wildfires of $43m post-tax in 1Q25.
Asia core earnings were up 7%, reflecting continued business growth, improved impact of new business, and favourable claims experience, partially offset by strengthened ECL provisions.
Asia delivered another strong quarter with record levels of APE sales, new business CSM and NBV, with year-over-year growth of 50%, 38% and 43%, respectively, reflecting higher sales volumes in Hong Kong, Japan and the rest of Asia. A new business value margin of 38.1% demonstrated resilience.
The insurer noted that In Asia, it further strengthened its GenAI capabilities to enhance sales support and improve customer experience. Manulife rolled out an AI Assistant solution to support agents in Singapore and to help its teams better serve brokers in Japan, enabling faster access to product information, reducing administrative workload and allowing distributors to focus more on customer engagement.