Manulife ramps up ASEAN operations

Manulife has been focusing on strengthening its operations in Asia. Find out what they are doing recently in the ASEAN region specifically in Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

As Manulife celebrates its 125th global anniversary and 115 years in Asia, there is no stopping the leading Canada -based financial services company from further expanding its footprint across Asia. 

Manulife has been getting positive results from its operations across Asia. As more people are expected to reside in Asia over the years and as the region proves its worth as a major development hub for international businesses, is Manulife up for a bigger strategic plan?

Singapore
Manulife established its presence in Singapore in 1980, and has since grown to a reputable financial solutions provider. With over 240 staff and over 1,000 professional financial planners, Manulife serves almost 164,000 clients and over 280,000 policies.

In Singapore, Manulife topped the rankings in the Singapore Customer Satisfaction Index 2010, an independent national survey by the Singapore Management University’s Institute of Service Excellence. In 2011, Manulife came up tops for having the most trusted financial planners in the same survey.

According to Philip Hampden-Smith, Executive Vice President and General Manager for South East Asia Operations, Manulife grew by about 38% on weighted premiums in Singapore last year, which is more than 1.5 times the industry growth rate of 22%. Manulife Singapore’s growth was attributed to the increase in both regular premium and single premium business.

Manulife Singapore’s growth was attributed to the increase in both regular premium and single premium business. Besides Singapore, Hampden-Smith is responsible for Manulife’s operations in the ASEAN area (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam).

Vietnam
The Vietnam government conferred on Manulife a ‘Contribution to the Life Insurance Industry Award’ in recognition of its contributions to the development of Vietnam’s life insurance industry in 2011.

With over 12,000 financial planners and 450 employees, Manulife Vietnam was able to serve more than 300,000 families and assist them in their financial needs.

Hampden-Smith notes: “We got our first insurance pass in Vietnam 13 years ago. We have about 15% market share and we have built a strong agency force. We have a micro insurance business there where we work with the largest NGO in Vietnam and we sell micro insurance through them.”

In June 2005, Manulife Asset Management (Vietnam) Company Limited commenced operations. It manages  institutional mandates and offers mutual funds to retail investors.

From being the first fully foreign-owned life insurer in Vietnam, Manulife now holds the reputation as being the third biggest player in terms of weighted premium income in the Vietnamese life insurance industry as of December 2011.

Other achievements include being the first ISO 9001:2008-accredited foreign life insurer in Vietnam in 2011. In February 2012, Manulife Vietnam received the prestigious Golden Dragon Award 2011 from the Vietnam Economic Times, which recognizes Manulife Vietnam as one of the best foreign-direct investment companies in Vietnam.

Manulife intends to apply its strategies in Vietnam as it ventures into the Cambodian market and envisions the same success story to materialize in the country.

Cambodia
The group’s life insurance operations were recently set up in Cambodia. Like in Vietnam, Manulife was the first 100% foreign player to receive the approval to set up life insurance operations in Cambodia. Manulife proves its commitment to work with the government to develop Cambodia’s insurance profession and  improving consumer education. “We saw the opportunity – it is somewhat a virgin territory with only one new local life insurer. We believe that we can leverage on our Vietnam experience and skills into Cambodia,” says Hampden-Smith.

Manulife plans to develop in Cambodia the same relationships it established with regulators in Vietnam. Hampden-Smith notes that since Cambodia is a small country with around 15 million people, success is within reach provided that they create a dominant position there and leverage on their experience and resources. “Our objective in Cambodia is to capture 30-40% of the market share,” he adds.

Hampden-Smith also reckons that when a company is in a start-up position, the first four dozen employees really matter. He notes that the team in Cambodia is indeed impressive and has quite an ‘instinctive chemistry.’ “The team we’ve put together in Cambodia is a mixture of some experienced people we brought into Cambodia but by and large most of the team are Cambodians. I’m very impressed with this core of Cambodian talents we managed to put together.”

Manulife proves to have a very interesting leadership position in Cambodia. The company is currently running a series of recruitment seminars for financial planners. “We have about four or five hundred potential candidates under review and we envision to reach a thousand financial planners within 12 months,” says Hampden-Smith.

Manulife’s success stories across ASEAN do not stop there. The company recently secured the single biggest partnership in its history, an exclusive 10-year deal with Bank Danamon in Indonesia.

Indonesia
Hampden-Smith notes that compared to Singapore, Indonesia offers a huge demographic opportunity in terms of new customers to Manulife. A particular highlight of its 26-year history in Indonesia was winning out major rivals in 2011 to secure its 10-year deal with Bank Danamon in Indonesia. The partnership will enhance their joint offerings of banking, insurance and wealth management products to a broad base of Danamon customers,  including microfinance, commercial and corporate customers, and has been effective since July 2012.

“This bancassurance deal is in line with our strategic goal of increasing our distribution partnerships to reach more potential clients. Manulife and Bank Danamon share the same vision that the benefits of insurance and investment management products should be a lot more accessible to the 248 million people across Indonesia,” says Hampden-Smith.

Headquartered in Jakarta, Manulife Indonesia operates through a network of marketing offices in 24 cities across the country, supported by more than 9,000 employees and professional financial planners and has approximately 1.6 million in-force policies.

Future plans
According to Hampden-Smith, Manulife has close to 30,000 financial planners in Southeast Asia. Their aim is to make use of the demographic opportunity across different markets to position Manulife at the right place, in the right time with the right products and to capture the hearts and minds of as many customers as possible.

“I want to make sure that our mission of upholding trust and commitment is understood by our customers. It’s not just about selling our products, it’s about our delivery on our promise for the long term,” says Hampden-Smith.

He adds that being customer centric and trying to put themselves in the customers’ shoes is key to continued success. “Why would I want to go to an insurance company in the first place? What am I looking for in terms of products? What kind of advice am I trying to seek? What are my financial priorities? So it’s always about putting ourselves in our customers’ shoes and at the same time always being ahead of the curve. We not only understand what our customers need for today but as a forward-thinking company, we develop a plan that looks after customers’ needs in 5-10 years’ time as well,” Hampden-Smith concluded.

Philip Hampden-Smith, Manulife