Exhibit 99.1

 

Ill Manulife
Annual Report 2020
Manulife Financial Corporation

Our mission Decisions made easier. Lives made better. Our five strategic priorities Portfolio Optimization We are actively managing our legacy businesses to improve returns and cash generation while reducing risk. Expense Efficiency We are getting our cost structure into fighting shape and simplifying and digitizing our processes to position us for efficient growth. Accelerate Growth We are accelerating growth in our highest-potential businesses. Digital, Customer Leader We are improving our customer experiences, using digitization and innovation to put customers first. High-Performing Team We are building a culture that drives our priorities. Learn more about the progress we are making on our five strategic priorities on page 17. Our values Our values represent how we operate. They reflect our culture, inform our behaviours, and help define how we work together. Obsess about customers We predict their needs and do everything in our power to satisfy them. Do the right thing We act with integrity and do what we say. Think big Anything is possible. We can always find a better way. Get it done together We’re surrounded by an amazing team. Do it better by working together. Own it We feel empowered to make decisions and take action to deliver our mission. Share your humanity We build a supportive, diverse, and thriving workplace.

Who we are Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups, and institutions. At the end of 2020, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 118,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 30 million customers. Manulife by the numbers
Core Earnings (C$ billions) $5.5 billion Total company core earnings declined 9% versus 2019. Assets Under Management and Administration (C$ billions) $1,297 billion $1.3 trillion in AUMA, 10% increase versus 2019.
1,005 1,071 1,084 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 1,297 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020    
Net Income Attributed to Shareholders (C$ billions) $5.9 billion Net income attributed to shareholders increased $0.3 billion from 2019. New Business Value (C$ billions) $1.8 billion Newbusinessvaluedeclined13%comparedwith2019, due to the challenging sales environment.
2.0 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020    
“Our values were on display every day and helped us frame the many decisions we made throughout this challenging time.” Roy Gori President and Chief Executive Officer Common Share Dividend (C$) $1.12/share Dividend payout ratio1 of41% in 2020. $1.12/sh    2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 1 Dividend payout ratio is common share dividends as a percent of diluted core earnings per common share.
Note: Percentage changes are stated on a constant exchange rate basis, a non-GAAP measure. AUMA values are reported as at December 31.
III Manulife 1

Letter to shareholders from John Cassaday Chairman of the Board Fellow shareholders, Last year in this letter, we highlighted how Manulife was focused on achieving success while always doing the right thing. This year, against the back drop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, another of Manulife’s values serves as a helpful lens through which to reflect on the year that passed: sharing our humanity. In a year like no other, your Board is proud of Manulife’s many accomplishments achieved under the strong and empathetic leadership of Roy Gori, President and CEO, and your company’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT). We are also humbled by the resilience, agility, and passion shown by every Manulife employee around the world who continued to serve our company’s customers through the uncertainty and upheaval unfolding around them on a daily basis. Even as our businesses had to adjust quickly and dramatically in response to the pandemic, we ensured that everyone at Manulife understood the importance of human kindness—to our customers, communities, and colleagues alike—and that we never lost sight of a simple but powerful fact: we are all in this together. We were thrilled to be able to offer a thank you day off to employees, as well as a “pay it forward” grant, through our Act of Kindness program, which enabled employees to make a monetary donation to a charity of their choice in their local communities. We also saw the importance of making arrange of mental, physical, and other supports available to our employees. We were gratified to see employee engagement scores rise substantially across the organization in 2020. Sharing our humanity also encompasses our strong commitment to diversity, equity, and the inclusive culture and workplace we are building. As the fight against racism took on heightened urgency in 2020, Manulife responded with a meaningful financial investment to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, in addition to establishing concrete leadership and recruitment goals to increase the representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour across its North American businesses. Manulife also introduced substantial enhancements to our maternity leave program and added parental and adoption leave, leading surrogacy and fertility benefits, and coverage for gender affirmation services. Your Board’s activities in 2020 While the pandemic showed us how a global crisis can upend even the best laid plans, your Board’s top priority was ensuring we could continue to provide over sight and guidance to the management team virtually. We successfully leveraged technology to continue to interact with each other during our Board sessions. We gathered ongoing director feedback to confirm that our effectiveness was not being impacted and that all directors still felt their voices were being heard. While we will eventually meet again in person, once it is safe to do so, we’ve also learned that there’s no need for every meeting to be in person, and that avoiding lengthy travel could make us a more effective group without sacrificing the connectedness that we currently value and enjoy. As Chairman, it was critically important to maintain personal contact with our independent directors and executive
2 | 2020 Annual Report

Manulife’s Board of Directors met virtually in 2020. From top left: Nicole Arnaboldi, Guy Bainbridge, Joseph Caron,    John Cassaday, Susan Dabarno,John Palmer, Sheila Fraser, Roy Gori,Julie Dickson, Donald Lindsay, Tsun-yan Hsieh, Andrea Rosen, Jim Prieur, and Leagh Turner. leaders—and we did so with an even greater frequency than is usual. This helped ensure that our directors’ voices were heard and that the tone at the top was appropriate. It also signalled to management that there was always a way to be heard by the Board. As the pandemic unfolded, we set up frequent briefings with management, as well as informal updates with Roy, to ensure that your Board had a clear line of sight into the company’s COVID-19 response, its approach for an eventual return to the office, and overall progress on its strategic priorities. We also continued to leverage your Board’s diverse mix of skills to conduct focused deep dives into topics of key importance to Manulife, such as IFRS 17 implementation, customer centricity, macroeconomic trends, and strategy. These sessions were attended by a subset of directors having expertise in the relevant area and who provided context and input into our deliberations with the full Board. The Board maintained close oversight of Manulife’s near-and long-term strategy throughout the year, in particular the large and compelling growth opportunity presented by the company’s business in Asia and Global Wealth and Asset Management. We also held a number of virtual in-depth sessions focused on leadership succession and talent to help ensure Manulife maintains an exceptional level of bench strength in terms of management leadership and Board stewardship alike. Our shareholder outreach and annual meeting also became virtual, but we remained as dedicated as always to discussing what matters to our investors. Among other matters, we held fulsome and robust conversations with shareholders on the topic of executive compensation and our preparations for the adoption of IFRS 17. Your Board continued to take an active role in Manulife’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. The Board’s Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee reviewed the progress being made against Manulife’s sustainability frame work and stayed informed of ESG trends, risks, and opportunities through management reporting. Two new directors joined the Board in 2020, each with expertise in areas critical to Manulife’s on going growth. Nicole Arnaboldi, former Vice Chairman, Credit Suisse Asset Management, is an accomplished financial services executive with a depth of critical wealth and asset management knowledge. Leagh Turner, President and Chief Operating Officer at Ceridian HCM Holding Inc., brings extensive experience in leadership, technology, and driving transformational change, and is a passionate supporter of diversity. We are proud to report that six of our 13 independent directors are women, effectively reaching our aspiration of gender parity in representation among independent directors. Thank you In closing, we would like to thank the Honourable Rona Ambrose, who resigned asadirectorinAugust2020toaccepta full-time employment position. We valued the advice and counsel she provided during her three years on the Board. We would also like to express our appreciation to Roy and the ELT for delivering a year of solid results during the worst global crisis in recent history, all while continuing to go above and beyond for customer sand engaging and inspiring the team with values-driven leadership. We want to send a special thank you to every Manulife employee. Your unwavering commitment to our mission and values, and the passion you’ve shown in the face of intense adversity, is what makes Manulife’s success possible, day in and day out. The Board sends you its unreserved gratitude for your continued service. And last but certainly not least, we want to thank you, our fellow shareholders, for your trust, support, and candor. While the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, we at Manulife are united by a powerful sense of togetherness and a firm belief that we will come out of this crisis stronger than ever. Sincerely, John Cassaday Chairman of the Board III Manulife 3

Letter to shareholders from Roy Gori President and Chief Executive Officer Dear fellow shareholders, When I wrote to you last year, our team was excited about the year ahead. We were focused on implementing plans to build on our positive momentum and to continue our transformation into the most digital, customer-centric global company in our industry. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, our focus quickly shifted to two key objectives: ensuring the health and safety of our team and supporting our customers, who needed us more than ever. The pandemic has tested us all, brought heartbreak and loss to people around the world, and challenged our resilience and determination. At the same time, it has reminded us of the power of community and the importance of gratitude and empathy. It’s why, before talking more specifically about our company, I want to express tremendous gratitude to all those who have been caring for the sick, ensuring the availability of food and supplies, developing and distributing vaccines, keeping our communities running, and doing so much more. On behalf of all of us at Manulife, thank you for your incredible dedication and selflessness. We are in this together, and we remain committed to supporting the communities where we live and work globally, much aswedidthroughout2020. Helping our customers navigate the new reality From concerns about how to protect their savings and investments, to securing products that would help with their medical needs and well-being, to enduring the devastating loss of a loved one, our customers turned to us in record numbers during this difficult time. In keeping with our mission—decisions made easier, lives made better—we helped customers who were stranded while travelling, we re-allocated business teams to handle increased call volumes, and we proactively extended grace periods for certain premium and mortgage payments. Understanding it was more important than ever to help our customers improve and protect their health, we grew our behavioural insurance offerings, which support them in taking actions to live healthier lives. We expanded the range of wearable devices offered by John Hancock Vitality in the U.S., increased reward opportunities for Manulife Vitality customers in Canada, and added Health Score, a health assessment tool for Manulife MOVE in Asia. Fortunately, as part of our digital transformation, we invested heavily in technology and services leading up to 2020.Our digital tools and contact centre 4 2020 Annual Report

teams were ready to help answer customers’ questions, process claims, and provide prospective customers with information about products and solutions remotely and quickly. We also accelerated the delivery of new digital capabilities to support virtual sales and to enhance the overall customer and advisor experience, including new eForms and Virtual Assistants. Since many markets where we operate require meeting in person to complete product purchases, we worked with local regulators to quickly find new ways to safely and simply connect with our distribution partners, agents, and customers. The impact these changes have had on our ability to serve our customers and make lives better has been tremendous, and we are grateful for the openness these regulators showed to new digital approaches. Once customers had the chance to interact with us in these new ways, many told us they welcomed the new speed and flexibility. As a result of these innovative efforts, a large majority of our products are now available via virtual face- to-face methods. We also took this opportunity to accelerate our digital innovation efforts in many other area so four business, expanding automatic underwriting, introducing a new claims system for our group benefits customers in Canada, further automating payments, and driving more straight-through processing. We made many other changes in response to customer feedback to enhance their overall experience as well. All these efforts contributedtoafour-pointincreasein2020 in our net promoter score, the indicator of how likely a customer is to recommend our company to others. Leveraging our strong foundation The strategy we embarked on a few years ago gave us a strong foundation to weather the extraordinary headwinds we faced last year. Thanks to the priority we had placed on investing in our technology and digital infrastructure, and strong focus on business continuity planning, when COVID-19was declared a global pandemic in March, we wereabletorapidlypivottohaving95%of our global team working remotely. Having worked over the past several years to embrace a culture of strong cost stewardship, we achieved $1billion of sustainable expense efficiencies, reaching our2022targettwoyears ahead of schedule. We prioritized optimizing our legacy portfolio, which is reflected in the releaseof$5.9billionofcapitalsince2018 and has further strengthened our capital position. Thanks to all of these efforts and, most importantly, the continued trust of our customers, we achieved net income attributable to shareholders of $5.9 billion in 2020, up $0.3billion from 2019. We delivered core earnings of$5.5 billion, a decreaseof9%compared with 2019, a resilient performance that reflects the diversity of our franchise and robust demand for our products. In addition, our assets under management and administration continued to grow, finishing the year at $1.3trillion, up10%fromlastyear. We maintained a focus on Asia and Global Wealth and Asset Management, two of our highest potential businesses. In Asia, we extended our banc assurance agreement with Bank Danamon Indonesia to 2036. We signed an agreement to establish an exclusive, 16-year banc assurance “From concerns about how to protect their savings and investments, to securing products that would help with their medical needs and wellbeing, to enduring the devastating loss of a loved one, our customers turned to us in record numbers during this difficult time.”
III Manual life 5

“Throughout the pandemic I have been repeatedly awed by the incredible heart, passion, and ‘can do’ spirit of our team.” partnership with Vietin Bank, one of Vietnam’s largest banks, and agreed to purchase Aviva plc’s Vietnam insurance operations, both of which will strengthen our leadership position in this fast-growing market. At the same time, our insurance agencyforceacrossAsiagrewby21%and nowexceeds115,000 agents focused on serving our customers in some of Asia’s fastest-growing markets. In our Global Wealth and Asset Management business, we completed the formation of our retail and institutional joint venture with Mahindra Finance in India and acquired a minority stake in Albamen Capital Partners, a private equity infrastructure investment manager with a focus on assets in mainland China. In addition, we announced a strategic alliance with Allianz Global Investors, strengthening our position as the largest Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund scheme sponsor. The fundamentals underpinning our global franchise remain strong and we expect future demand for our products and services will remain robust, supported by macroeconomic and demographic mega trends, such as the rise of Asia’s middle class and the aging global population. The pandemic has changed many attitudes regarding risk, which led more people to examine or purchase insurance and wealth products to help them prepare for the future and care for loved ones. An inspired, inclusive, and engaged team Throughout the pandemic I have been repeatedly awed by the incredible heart, passion, and “can do” spirit of our team. Our values were on display every day and helped us frame the many decisions we made throughout this challenging time. Earlyon, we knew some members of our team needed to have the support of additional time off to care for family or their own well-being, and we responded with additional paid leave. We recognized that so many of our people were challenged to do their work while caring for their children and adopted flexible schedules to accommodate their needs. Managers were provided with additional support to help coach and lead remotely. Knowing our teammates’ children needed something to look forward to, we launched a virtual summer camp followed by afterschool clubs. We also provided a range of speakers, entertainment, and virtual parties for everyone on our team, including their families. Along the way, we made it a priority to say “thank you” and recognize each other through a new company-wide program in which everyone can celebrate colleagues for their help, hard work, and for living our values. This struck a chord with nearly 400,000recognitionmomentsinjustafew months. To take it one step further, we gave everyone a thank you day off in June and five additional personal paid days off in 2021to rest, recharge, and have some fun. As2020cametoan end, we gave every 6 2020 Annual Report

member of our team a grant to fund an “Act of Kindness” to help those in need in their local community. Besides dealing with the impacts of the pandemic, we also made it a priority to ensure our company is a place where everyone feels they can be authentic, respected for who they are, and included. We committed to invest more than $3.5millionoverthenexttwoyearsto promote diversity, equity, and inclusion through expanded hiring commitments, education, and community support for organizations helping Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. Most heartening was how our actions were appreciated by our high-performing team, as we earned outstanding scores on our annual engagement survey and were voted one of the world’s best employers by Forbes, ranking in the top 100. Our team and culture have evolved inaverypositiveandpowerfulwayin2020, and its growing strength remains critical to our long-term success. Our commitment to sustainability Making sustainable business decisions is more than just the right thing to do—it creates long-term value for our stakeholders and communities. For us, this means working towards measuring and evaluating our practices by integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors across our business, from supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy to investing in the health and well-being of our team and our communities. We are maintaining our focus on climate change and remain steadfast in our commitment to investing in the transition to a low-carbon economy. As the world’s largest institutional timberland investment manager and one of the largest farmland investment managers, we are actively contributing nature-based solutions to this challenge. We have achieved green building certifications for over 80% of our real estate portfolio managed by Global Wealth and Asset Management. Our own portfolio of green investments totalled $29.2billionattheendof2020,including renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, and sustainably managed timberland and farmland. The world’s leading proponent of responsible investment, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI),included Manulife Investment Management in their PRI Leaders’ Group 2020, recognizing our efforts to integrate climate data and analysis into these portfolios. We offer our investment clients “sustain ability as standard,” considering sustain ability in all our investments made on their behalf. As part of our sustain ability journey, we are actively engaging with industry groups and global associations, such as Climate Action100+andtheSustainableMarkets Initiative, to collaborate with like-minded organizations looking to embed ESG practices and to make significant impacts across industries and geographies. Thank you Inclosing, I am proud of all we were able to accomplish in 2020. The support and excellent guidance of our Board of Directors and our Chairman, John Cassaday, were invaluable as we navigated such an unprecedented time. I’d also like to thank you, my fellow shareholders and customers, for your ongoing confidence and trust in us. On a personal level, I am deeply grateful for the partnership and tireless efforts of my colleagues across the senior leadership team. I truly appreciate all their efforts over the past year. As we embark on the year ahead, I am confident that the energy and optimism of our global team will enable us to continue to build an even stronger Manulife. Sincerely, Roy Gori President and Chief Executive Officer
III Manulife 7

Caution regarding forward-looking statements

 

 

8   |  2020 Annual Report

 

		9

Management’s Discussion and Analysis

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) is current as of February 10, 2021.

1. Manulife Financial Corporation

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2020, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 118,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 30 million customers. At the end of 2020, we had $1.3 trillion (US$1.0 trillion) in assets under management and administration, and during 2020, we made $31.6 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges, and under ‘945’ in Hong Kong.

Our reporting segments are:

 

•

Asia – providing insurance products and insurance-based wealth accumulation products in Asia.

•

Canada – providing insurance products, insurance-based wealth accumulation products, and banking services in Canada and has an in-force variable annuity business.

•

U.S. – providing life insurance products, insurance-based wealth accumulation products and has an in-force long-term care insurance business and an in-force annuity business.

•

Global Wealth and Asset Management (“Global WAM”) – providing fee-based wealth solutions to our retail, retirement and institutional customers around the world.

•

Corporate and Other – comprised of investment performance on assets backing capital, net of amounts allocated to operating segments; financing costs; costs incurred by the corporate office related to shareholder activities (not allocated to operating segments); our Property and Casualty (“P&C”) Reinsurance business; and run-off reinsurance business lines.

In this document, the terms “Company”, “Manulife”, “we” and “our” mean Manulife Financial Corporation (“MFC”) and its subsidiaries. The term “MLI” means The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries.

Profitability

Profitability

 

As at and for the years ended December 31, ($ millions, unless otherwise stated)		2020				2019				2018
Net income attributed to shareholders		$	5,871			$	5,602			$	4,800
Core earnings(1)		$	5,516			$	6,004			$	5,610
Diluted earnings per common share ($)		$	2.93			$	2.77			$	2.33
Diluted core earnings per common share ($)(1)		$	2.75			$	2.97			$	2.74
Return on common shareholders’ equity (“ROE”)			11.6%				12.2%				11.6%
Core ROE(1)			10.9%				13.1%				13.7%
Expense efficiency ratio(1)			52.9%				52.0%				52.0%

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

Our net income attributed to shareholders was $5.9 billion in 2020 compared with $5.6 billion in 2019. Net income attributed to shareholders is comprised of core earnings¹ (consisting of items we believe reflect the underlying earnings capacity of the business), which amounted to $5.5 billion in 2020 compared with $6.0 billion in 2019, and items excluded from core earnings of $0.4 billion of net gains in 2020 compared with $0.4 billion of net charges in 2019.

The $0.3 billion increase in net income attributed to shareholders compared with 2019 was primarily due to gains from the direct impact of interest rates in 2020, including gains from the sale of available-for-sale bonds (“AFS”) held in Corporate and Other, (compared with losses in 2019, including a $0.5 billion charge related to updated Ultimate Reinvestment Rate (“URR”) assumptions issued by the Canadian Actuarial Standards Board), partially offset by losses on investment-related experience (compared with gains in 2019, including $400 million of core investment gains¹) and losses from the direct impact of equity markets and variable annuity guarantee liabilities (compared with gains in 2019).

The $0.5 billion decrease in core earnings compared with 2019 reflects the absence of core investment gains in the year (compared with gains in the prior year), lower investment income in Corporate and Other, less favourable impact of markets on seed money investments in new segregated and mutual funds, and lower new business volumes. These items were partially offset by the impact of in-force business growth, favourable policyholder experience, favourable new business product mix in Hong Kong and Asia Other², and higher average AUMA in Global Wealth and Asset Management. Core earnings in 2020 included net policyholder experience gains of $83 million post-tax ($76 million pre-tax) compared with a net charge of $17 million post-tax ($55 million pre-tax) in 2019.³ Actions to improve the capital efficiency of our legacy businesses resulted in $37 million lower core earnings in 2020 compared with 2019.

 

1	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

2	Asia Other excludes Hong Kong and Japan.

3

Policyholder experience includes gains of $60 million post-tax in 2020 (2019 – gains of $83 million post-tax) from the release of margins on medical policies in Hong Kong that have lapsed for customers who have opted to change their existing policies to the new Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (“VHIS”) products. These gains did not have a material impact on core earnings as they were mostly offset by new business strain.

 

10   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Core earnings by segment is presented in the following table. See Asia, Canada, U.S., and Global WAM sections below.

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)														% change(1)
		2020								2019				2020 vs 2019				2018
Core earnings by segment (1),(2),(3)
Asia		$	2,110							$	2,005				4%			$	1,766
Canada			1,174								1,201				(2)%				1,327
U.S.			1,995								1,876				5%				1,789
Global Wealth and Asset Management			1,100								1,021				7%				985
Corporate and Other (excluding core investment gains)			(863	)							(499	)			(73)%				(657	)
Core investment gains(2),(4)			–								400				(100)%				400
Total core earnings		$	5,516							$	6,004				(9)%			$	5,610

 

(1)	Percentage change is on a constant exchange rate basis. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(3)	2018 comparatives for core earnings in each segment have been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

(4)	See note (2) in the table below.

The table below reconciles 2020, 2019 and 2018 net income attributed to shareholders to core earnings and provides further details for each of the items excluded from core earnings.

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Core earnings(1)		$	5,516			$	6,004			$	5,610
Items to reconcile core earnings to net income (loss) attributed to shareholders:
Investment-related experience outside of core earnings(2)			(792	)			366				200
Direct impact of equity markets and interest rates and variable annuity guarantee liabilities			932				(778)				(857)
Direct impact of equity markets and variable annuity guarantee liabilities(3)			(228)				456				(928)
Fixed income reinvestment rates assumed in the valuation of policy liabilities(4)			(1,015)				(1,130)				354
Sale of AFS bonds and derivative positions in the Corporate and Other segment			2,175				396				(283)
Changes to the Ultimate Reinvestment Rate(5)			–				(500)				–
Change in actuarial methods and assumptions(6)			(198)				(21)				(51)
Reinsurance transactions(7)			341				81				175
Restructuring charge(8)			–				–				(263)
Tax-related items and other(9)			72				(50)				(14)
Total items excluded from core earnings			355				(402)				(810)
Net income attributed to shareholders		$	5,871			$	5,602			$	4,800

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)

In accordance with our definition of core earnings, we include up to $400 million of net favourable investment-related experience reported in a single year, as core investment gains (see “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below). Items excluded from core earnings include net investment-related experience in excess of $400 million per annum or net unfavourable investment-related experience on a year-to-date basis. In 2020, the investment-related experience net charge of $792 million reflected lower-than-expected returns (including fair value changes) on alternative long-duration assets (“ALDA”) primarily driven by investments in oil & gas and real estate, partially offset by the favourable impact of fixed income reinvestment activities. In 2019, investment-related experience net gains of $766 million were generated, reflecting the favourable impact of fixed income reinvestment activities on the measurement of our policy liabilities, strong returns (including changes in fair value) on ALDA, and strong credit experience.

(3)

In 2020, the net charge related to equity markets of $228 million included a charge of $1,641 million from gross equity exposure and a modest charge of $7 million from macro hedge experience partially offset by a gain of $1,420 million from dynamic hedging experience. In 2019, the net gain of $456 million included a gain of $443 million from gross equity exposure and a gain of $45 million from dynamic hedging experience, partially offset by a charge of $32 million from macro hedge experience.

(4)

In 2020, the charge due to fixed income reinvestment rates of $1,015 million was primarily due to the reduction in risk-free rates and, to a much lesser extent, lower corporate spreads, with spreads for some tenors and ratings being slightly below their respective 2019 levels. In 2019, the net charge due to fixed income reinvestment rates of $1,130 million was primarily due to the narrowing of corporate spreads, the impact of lower risk-free rates and a steepening of the yield curve.

(5)

In 2019, the Actuarial Standards Board (“ASB”) issued new assumptions with reductions to the URR and updates to the calibration criteria for stochastic risk-free rates. The updated standard included a reduction of 15 basis points in the URR and a corresponding change to stochastic risk-free rate modeling which resulted in a $500 million charge. The long-term URR for risk-free rates in Canada is prescribed at 3.05% and we use the same assumption for the U.S. Our assumption for Japan is 1.6%. The ASB is currently conducting another review of the URR with any changes expected to be announced and implemented in 2021.

(6)	See “Critical Actuarial and Accounting Policies – Review of Actuarial Methods and Assumptions” section below for further information on the 2020 and 2019 charges.

(7)	In 2020, reinsurance transactions in the U.S., Asia and Canada contributed gains of $262 million, $58 million and $21 million, respectively. The 2019 net gain of $81 million included gains resulting from reinsurance transactions primarily related to our legacy businesses in Canada and the U.S.

(8)	The 2018 charge of $263 million primarily related to the voluntary exit program in our Canadian operation transformation program and to our North American voluntary early retirement program as well as costs to optimize our real estate footprint in the U.S. and Canada.

(9)	In 2020, we reported tax benefits from the U.S. CARES Act, as a result of carrying back net operating losses to prior years, which had higher tax rates. Tax-related items and other charges in 2019 primarily related to a tax rate change in the province of Alberta, Canada.

Diluted earnings per common share was $2.93 in 2020, compared with $2.77 in 2019 primarily related to the increase in net income attributed to common shareholders. Diluted core earnings per common share¹ was $2.75 in 2020, compared with $2.97 in 2019 primarily related to the decrease in core earnings. The diluted weighted average common shares outstanding was 1,943 million in 2020 and 1,962 million in 2019.

 

 

1	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

 

		11

Return on common shareholders’ equity (“ROE”) for 2020 was 11.6%, compared with 12.2% for 2019 and core return on shareholders’ equity (“core ROE”)¹ was 10.9% in 2020 compared with 13.1% in 2019. The decrease in 2020 core ROE was predominantly driven by an increase in common shareholders’ equity, due to the impact of lower interest rates on AFS debt securities.

Expense efficiency ratio¹ was 52.9% for 2020, compared with 52.0% in 2019. The 0.9 percentage point increase in the ratio compared with 2019 was driven by a 7%² decline in 2020 pre-tax core earnings¹, partially offset by a reduction in general expenses included in core earnings (“core general expenses”) of 3%.¹ The reduction in core general expenses reflected the results of our efficiency programs, as well as temporary reductions in discretionary and distribution-related expenditures.

Business Performance

Growth metrics

 

As at and for the years ended December 31, ($ millions, unless otherwise stated)		2020				2019				2018
Asia APE sales		$	3,869			$	4,278			$	4,012
Canada APE sales			1,148				1,057				975
U.S. APE sales			609				702				553
Total APE sales(1)			5,626				6,037				5,540
Asia new business value			1,387				1,595				1,443
Canada new business value			255				237				207
U.S. new business value			160				218				98
Total new business value(1)			1,802				2,050				1,748
Global Wealth and Asset Management gross flows ($ billions)(1)			130.2				114.2				119.0
Global Wealth and Asset Management net flows ($ billions)(1)			8.9				(0.9	)			1.6
Global Wealth and Asset Management assets under management and administration ($ billions)(1)			753.6				681.4				608.8
Total assets under management and administration ($ billions)(1)			1,297.4				1,188.9				1,083.5

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

Annualized premium equivalent (“APE”) sales¹ were $5.6 billion in 2020, a decrease of 8% compared with 2019. In Asia, APE sales decreased 11% compared with 2019 primarily as a result of lower Japan APE sales, which decreased 30% due to accelerated sales of corporate-owned life insurance (“COLI”) products in the first quarter of 2019 in advance of a change in tax regulations and the adverse impact of COVID-19. Hong Kong APE sales decreased 10% compared with 2019 driven by the adverse impact of COVID-19 containment measures, and lower sales to mainland Chinese visitors. Asia Other APE sales in 2020 were in-line with 2019, as growth in mainland China and Vietnam was offset by the adverse impact of COVID-19 in other markets. In Canada, APE sales increased 9% compared with 2019, primarily driven by higher large-case group insurance sales, higher sales in our lower risk segregated funds and higher affinity market sales within individual insurance, partially offset by lower retail insurance sales due to the adverse impact of COVID-19. In the U.S., APE sales decreased 14% compared with 2019, as lower international universal life, domestic protection universal life, and variable universal life sales, more than offset higher term life and domestic indexed universal life sales. The decline in U.S. APE sales was driven by higher prior year domestic universal life sales in advance of anticipated regulatory changes, as well as the unfavourable impact of COVID-19.

New business value (“NBV”)¹ was $1.8 billion in 2020, a decrease of 13% compared with 2019. In Asia, NBV of $1.4 billion was down 14% compared with 2019, driven by lower sales volumes in Hong Kong and Japan and a decline in market interest rates in Hong Kong and Asia Other, partially offset by favourable product mix in Asia Other. In Canada, NBV of $255 million was up 8% compared with 2019, primarily due to higher margins and higher sales in our insurance businesses. In the U.S., NBV of $160 million was down 27% compared with 2019 primarily driven by lower sales volumes.

Global WAM gross flows¹ of $130.2 billion increased $16.0 billion or 13% compared with 2019, driven by higher gross flows across all geographies. See “Global Wealth and Asset Management” section below for further details.

Global WAM net inflows¹ were $8.9 billion in 2020, compared with net outflows of $0.9 billion in 2019. In Asia, net inflows were $3.9 billion in 2020 compared with net inflows of $4.8 billion in 2019, reflecting lower retail net flows mainly in mainland China and Hong Kong, partially offset by higher net flows in Indonesia Retail and Hong Kong Retirement. In Canada, net inflows were $14.6 billion in 2020 compared with net outflows of $3.6 billion in 2019, driven by improved net inflows in Institutional Asset Management, from the non-recurrence of an $8.5 billion redemption in 2019 and the funding of a $6.9 billion mandate from a new client in the second quarter of 2020 (“2Q20”), and in Retirement, from lower plan redemptions and individual withdrawals. In the U.S., net outflows were $9.6 billion in 2020 compared with net outflows of $2.0 billion in 2019, driven by a $5.0 billion redemption of an equity mandate, and the non-recurrence of several large sales in Institutional Asset Management in 2019, as well as higher redemptions in Retirement, mainly due to member withdrawals under the U.S. CARES Act during the year.

 

1	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

2

Percentage growth / declines in core earnings, core general expenses, pre-tax core earnings, APE sales, gross flows, net flows, NBV, assets under management and administration, assets under management, core EBITDA and Global Wealth and Asset Management revenue are stated on a constant exchange rate basis. Constant exchange rate basis is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP measures” below.

 

12   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Assets under Management and Administration (“AUMA”)¹

AUMA as at December 31, 2020 was $1.3 trillion, an increase of 10%, compared with December 31, 2019, primarily due to the favourable impact of markets and net inflows. The Global Wealth and Asset Management portion of AUMA as at December 31, 2020 was $754 billion, an increase of 12%, compared with December 31, 2019, driven by the favourable impact of markets and net inflows of $8.9 billion.

Assets under Management and Administration

 

As at December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
General fund		$	410,977			$	378,527			$	353,664
Segregated funds net assets(1)			367,436				343,108				313,209
Mutual funds, institutional asset management and other(1),(2)			356,335				321,826				292,200
Total assets under management			1,134,748				1,043,461				959,073
Other assets under administration			162,688				145,397				124,449
Total assets under management and administration		$	1,297,436			$	1,188,858			$	1,083,522

 

(1)	Segregated fund assets, mutual fund assets and other funds are not available to satisfy the liabilities of the Company’s general fund.

(2)	Other funds represent pension funds, pooled funds, endowment funds and other institutional funds managed by the Company on behalf of others.

Revenue

Revenue includes (i) premiums received on life and health insurance policies and fixed annuity products, net of premiums ceded to reinsurers; (ii) investment income comprised of income earned on general fund assets, credit experience and realized gains and losses on assets held in the Corporate and Other segment; (iii) fee and other income received for services provided; and (iv) realized and unrealized gains and losses on assets supporting insurance and investment contract liabilities and on our macro hedging program. Premium equivalents from administrative services only (“ASO”), as well as deposits received by the Company on investment contracts such as segregated funds, mutual funds and managed funds are not included in revenue; however, the Company does receive fee income from these products, which is included in revenue. Fees generated from deposits and ASO premium and deposit equivalents are an important part of our business and as a result, revenue does not fully represent sales and other activity taking place during the respective periods.

In 2020, revenue before realized and unrealized investment gains and losses was $59.9 billion compared with $61.4 billion in 2019. The decrease was primarily due to higher ceded premiums in 2020 from the reinsurance of a block of legacy U.S. Bank-Owned Life Insurance (“BOLI”) business partially offset by higher investment income.

In 2020, the net realized and unrealized investment gains on assets supporting insurance and investment contract liabilities and on the macro hedging program were $19.0 billion compared with gains of $18.2 billion for 2019. The 2020 and 2019 gains were primarily due to a decrease in interest rates and higher equity markets.

See “Impact of Fair Value Accounting” below.

Revenue

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Gross premiums		$	41,408			$	41,059			$	39,150
Premiums ceded to reinsurers			(8,491	)			(5,481)				(15,138	)
Net premium income			32,917				35,578				24,012
Investment income			16,433				15,393				13,560
Other revenue			10,591				10,399				10,428
Revenue before realized and unrealized investment gains and losses			59,941				61,370				48,000
Realized and unrealized investment gains and losses on assets supporting insurance and investment contract liabilities and on the macro hedge program			18,967				18,200				(9,028	)
Total revenue		$	78,908			$	79,570			$	38,972

 

1	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

 

		13

Financial Strength

Financial strength metrics

 

As at and for the years ended December 31, ($ millions, unless otherwise stated)		2020				2019				2018
MLI’s LICAT total ratio(1)			149%				140%				143%
Financial leverage ratio			26.6%				25.1%				28.6%
Consolidated capital(1)		$	61,064			$	57,369			$	56,010
Book value per common share ($)		$	25.00			$	23.25			$	21.38
Book value per common share excluding accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) ($)		$	21.74			$	19.94			$	18.23

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

The Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (“LICAT”) total ratio for MLI was 149% as at December 31, 2020, compared with 140% as at December 31, 2019. The nine percentage point increase from December 31, 2019 was driven by market movements primarily from lower risk-free interest rates, by net capital issuances¹, and by the reinsurance of a block of legacy U.S. BOLI business, partly offset by several smaller items.

MFC’s financial leverage ratio increased to 26.6% as at December 31, 2020 from 25.1% as at December 31, 2019, driven by the impact of net issuance of $2.4 billion of securities, partially offset by the growth in retained earnings.

Consolidated capital² was $61.1 billion as at December 31, 2020 compared with $57.4 billion as at December 31, 2019, an increase of $3.7 billion. The increase was primarily driven by growth in retained earnings of $3.4 billion, net capital issuances of $0.7 billion, which does not include MFC senior debt as it does not qualify as regulatory capital,³ and an increase in unrealized gains of AFS debt securities of $0.4 billion, partially offset by a reduction in participating policyholders’ equity of $0.5 billion and the impact of a stronger Canadian dollar of $0.4 billion.

Book value per common share as at December 31, 2020 was $25.00, an increase of 8% compared with $23.25 as at December 31, 2019, and the book value per common share excluding accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) was $21.74 as at December 31, 2020, an increase of 9% compared with $19.94 as at December 31, 2019. The increase in the book value per common share was primarily driven by net income attributed to shareholders net of dividends and a net increase in AOCI. The number of common shares outstanding was 1,940 million as at December 31, 2020 and 1,949 million as at December 31, 2019.

Impact of Fair Value Accounting

Fair value accounting policies affect the measurement of both our assets and our liabilities. The difference between the reported amounts of our assets and liabilities determined as of the balance sheet date and the immediately preceding balance sheet date in accordance with the applicable fair value accounting principles is reported as investment-related experience and the direct impact of equity markets and interest rates and variable annuity guarantees, each of which impacts net income.

We reported $19.0 billion of net realized and unrealized investment gains in investment income in 2020 (2019 – gains of $18.2 billion).

As outlined under “Critical Actuarial and Accounting Policies” below, net insurance contract liabilities under IFRS are determined using Canadian Asset Liability Method (“CALM”), as required by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (“CIA”). The measurement of policy liabilities includes the estimated value of future policyholder benefits and settlement obligations to be paid over the term remaining on in-force policies, including the costs of servicing the policies, reduced by the future expected policy revenues and future expected investment income on assets supporting the policies. Investment returns are projected using the current asset portfolios and projected reinvestment strategies. Experience gains and losses are reported when current period activity differs from what was assumed in the policy liabilities at the beginning of the period. We classify gains and losses by assumption type. For example, current period investing activities that increase (decrease) the future expected investment income on assets supporting the policies will result in an investment-related experience gain (loss). See description of investment-related experience in “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

Public Equity Risk and Interest Rate Risk

At December 31, 2020, excluding impacts from asset-based fees earned on assets under management and policyholder account value, the impact of a 10% decline in equity markets was estimated to be a charge of $610 million and the impact of a 50 basis point decline in interest rates, across all durations and markets, on our earnings was estimated to be neutral. See “Risk Factors and Risk Management” below.

Impact of Foreign Exchange Rates

We have worldwide operations, including in Canada, the United States and various markets in Asia, and generate revenues and incur expenses in local currencies in these jurisdictions, all of which are translated into Canadian dollars. The bulk of our exposure to foreign exchange rates is to movements in the U.S. dollar.

 

1	LICAT reflects capital redemptions once the intention to redeem has been announced. As a result, the December 31, 2020 LICAT ratio reflects the impact of the $350 million of MLI subordinated debentures redeemed in January 2021 (announced in November 2020).

2	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

3

Consolidated capital does not include MFC senior debt (net issuance of $1.7 billion in 2020) as this form of financing does not meet OSFI’s definition of regulatory capital at the MFC level. The Company has down-streamed the proceeds from this financing into operating entities in a form that qualifies as regulatory capital at the subsidiary level.

 

14   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Items impacting our Consolidated Statements of Income are translated to Canadian dollars using average exchange rates for the respective quarterly period. For items impacting our Consolidated Statements of Financial Position, period end rates are used for currency translation purpose. The following table provides the most relevant foreign exchange rates for 2020 and 2019.

 

Exchange rate		Quarterly																								Full Year
		4Q20				3Q20				2Q20				1Q20				4Q19								2020				2019
Average(1)
U.S. dollar			1.3030				1.3321				1.3854				1.3449				1.3200								1.3414				1.3269
Japanese yen			0.0125				0.0126				0.0129				0.0124				0.0122								0.0126				0.0122
Hong Kong dollar			0.1681				0.1719				0.1787				0.1731				0.1687								0.1729				0.1693
Period end
U.S. dollar			1.2732				1.3339				1.3628				1.4187				1.2988								1.2732				1.2988
Japanese yen			0.0124				0.0126				0.0126				0.0131				0.0120								0.0124				0.0120
Hong Kong dollar			0.1642				0.1721				0.1758				0.1830				0.1668								0.1642				0.1668

 

(1)	Average rates for the quarter are from Bank of Canada which are applied against Consolidated Statements of Income items for each period. Average rate for the full year is a 4-point average of the quarterly average rates.

Net income attributed to shareholders and core earnings from the Company’s foreign operations are translated to Canadian dollars, and in general, our net income attributed to shareholders and core earnings benefit from a weakening Canadian dollar and are adversely affected by a strengthening Canadian dollar. However, in a period of net losses in foreign operations, the weakening of the Canadian dollar has the effect of increasing the losses. The relative impact of foreign exchange in any given period is driven by the movement of currency rates as well as the proportion of earnings generated in our foreign operations.

Changes in foreign exchange rates, primarily due to the weakening of the Canadian dollar compared with the U.S. dollar, increased core earnings by approximately $60 million in 2020 compared with 2019. The impact of foreign currency on items excluded from core earnings does not provide relevant information given the nature of these items.

Strategic priorities progress update

Strategy

Our ambition is to be the most digital, customer-centric global company in our industry. These are our goals for our three important stakeholder groups:

 

		Customers Improve Net Promoter Score by +30 points and delight customers1
		Employees Engage our employees — achieve top quartile engagement2
		Shareholders Deliver top quartile returns3

 

1	As compared to a baseline of +1 in 2017.

2	Top quartile employee engagement compared to global financial services companies and insurance peers by 2022.

3	Top quartile shareholder returns compared to our peer group.

 

		15

Our mission, strategic priorities and values are summarized below:

 

Strategic Priorities

Our strategy is underpinned by five strategic priorities that were introduced in June 2018. These priorities drive our focus as we strive to be the most digital, customer-centric global company in our industry.

Portfolio Optimization – We are continually optimizing our portfolio and have already surpassed our original target to release $5 billion of capital by 2022, delivering $5.9 billion of cumulative capital benefits through 2020. In 2020, we broadened the portfolio optimization priority to include all of our global in-force insurance and annuity management. Focal areas within this pillar are to:

 

•

Deliver capital release from legacy businesses, including legacy annuity businesses, long-term care insurance and select long-duration, guaranteed insurance products.

•

Optimize our portfolio in order to improve our risk profile

•

Optimize our portfolio in order to improve our Return on Equity

•

Create tangible value through in-force management initiatives

Expense Efficiency – We are focused on driving efficient growth, targeting a less than 50% expense efficiency ratio and have already delivered on our original target of $1 billion in expense efficiencies. Focal areas within this pillar are to:

 

•

Leverage our global scale and operating environment

•

Streamline business processes

•

Eliminate activity not valued by our end customers

•

Continue to sustain a culture of expense efficiency and driving efficient growth

Accelerate Growth – Our growth ambition seeks to generate two-thirds of core earnings from our high potential businesses. Focal areas within this pillar are to:

 

•

Execute on organic and inorganic growth opportunities in Asia

•

Execute on organic and inorganic growth opportunities in Global Wealth and Asset Management

•

Expand our behavioural insurance offering to provide innovative solutions and support positive health in our customer base

•

Drive new business growth through group insurance

Digital, Customer Leader – In line with our mission to become the most digital, customer-centric global company in our industry, we aim to improve Net Promoter Score by 30 points. Focal areas within this pillar are to:

 

•

Invest in digital assets to improve customer experience

•

Deploy a globally consistent NPS system

•

Utilize a human-centered design approach for the development of new products and services

•

Leverage global agile capabilities to drive improvements in our ways of working

 

16   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

High Performing Team – We are committed to enabling a high performing team and achieving top quartile employee engagement. Focal areas within this pillar are to:

 

•

Drive organizational effectiveness and speed of decision making

•

Deepen Manulife’s diversity and inclusion

•

Develop our talent with differentiated capabilities

•

Leverage a global recognition program to reward excellence and promote company values

Progress Update

Manulife’s mission – Decisions made easier. Lives made better – guided our business throughout 2020. Our focused efforts produced solid results on our five strategic priorities as noted below.

 

Strategic priorities		2022 Targets1		2020 Performance		Highlights on our progress
1.  Portfolio Optimization		•   Release a total of $5 billion in capital from legacy businesses		•   Achieved 3 years ahead of schedule •   Delivered $5.9 billion of cumulative capital benefits, including $0.8 billion in 2020		•   $3.6 billion from reinsurance and other actions in our North American Legacy businesses including $0.5 billion from reinsuring a block of legacy U.S. BOLI business in 2020 •   $2.3 billion from a reduction in the allocation to ALDA in the portfolio asset mix supporting legacy business
2.  Expense Efficiency		•   Achieve a less than 50% expense efficiency ratio •   Deliver $1 billion in expense efficiencies		•   Expense efficiency ratio of 52.9% in 2020, compared to 52.0% in 2019 •   Cumulative expense efficiencies of $1.0 billion in pre-tax annual savings, achieved 2 years ahead of schedule, including over $300 million of sustainable savings in 2020		•   The maturity of our expense efficiency program has played a crucial role throughout the economic downturn and enabled us to be responsive to headwinds. •   Core general expenses declined by 3% in 2020 compared to 2019 •   Consolidated our real estate footprint •   Implemented automation, robotic solutions, and leveraged artificial intelligence to adjudicate less complex transactions •   Renegotiated various contracts with third-party vendors •   Despite headwinds related to the global pandemic, we are on track to achieve our target expense efficiency ratio of less than 50% by 2022.1
3.  Accelerate Growth		•   Generate two-thirds of core earnings from highest potential businesses2		•   66% of our core earnings in 2020 were generated from highest potential businesses, compared to 57% in 2019		•   Continued our expansion in bancassurance with an exclusive 16-year partnership with VietinBank3 to better meet the growing financial and insurance needs of the Vietnamese people and an extension of our agreement with PT Bank Danamon Indonesia to 2036 •   Continued our expansion of behavioural-based wellness insurance products through our Manulife Vitality program in Canada, “Vitality for All” strategy in the U.S. and ManulifeMOVE in Asia •   Solidified our position as the largest MPF scheme sponsor in Hong Kong through strategic alliance with Allianz Global Investors, expected to close in 20211 •   Experienced 7% growth in Global WAM core earnings increasing to 20% of total core earnings in 2020 •   Normalizing for the absence of core investment gains in the denominator, our highest potential businesses would have contributed 62% of core earnings, which is a 5 percentage point increase versus 2019

 

1	See “Caution regarding forward-looking statements” above.

2	Asia, Global WAM, group insurance in Canada, and behavioural insurance products.

3	Subject to regulatory approval.

 

		17

Strategic priorities		2022 Targets1		2020 Performance		Highlights on our progress
4.  Digital, Customer Leader		•   Improve Net Promoter Score by 30 points, as compared to a baseline of +1 in 2017		•   rNPS2 score of +12, an 11 point improvement from the 2017 baseline and a 4 point improvement from 2019 •   2020 scores remain competitive with global benchmarks		•   2020 was a challenging year for many people and in order to make things easier and safer for customers, we responded to the pandemic by reorienting customer experiences through the enhancement and acceleration of our digital capabilities •   Launched a new, fully underwritten term life product in the U.S. which enables customers to purchase up to US$1 million in life insurance coverage digitally •   Launched a new retirement planner tool in our Global WAM U.S. business to deliver an innovative and engaging way for customers to visualize and plan for their retirement •   Introduced facial and video recognition, and intelligent guide script into the sales process in mainland China •   Expanded our partnership with Akira Health to provide a broader range of online medical services to insurance customers in Canada •   Vast majority of our products are available to prospective customers through virtual face-to-face methods3: 97% of APE sales in both Asia and Canada4, 80% of APE sales in the U.S.4 and 90% of Global WAM AUMA5
5.  High Performing Team		•   Achieve top quartile employee engagement compared to global financial services and insurance peers		•   Ranked in the top quartile amongst our designated peer group on employee engagement in 2020		•   Ranked in the 80th percentile amongst global financial services and insurance peers on our 2020 employee engagement survey •   Named a World’s Best Employer by Forbes, ranked in the top 100 best employers globally •   Committed to invest more than $3.5 million over the next two years to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace and communities we serve.

 

 

1	See “Caution regarding forward-looking statements” above.

2	Relationship Net Promoter Score (“rNPS”).

3	Virtual face-to-face, includes digital as well as non-digital solutions.

4	Represents the percentage of 2019 APE sales that are currently available for sale via virtual face-to-face methods (applies to Asia, Canada and U.S.).

5	Reflects Global WAM’s AUMA available to new and existing retail and retirement customers.

 

18   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

2. Asia

Our Asia segment is a leading provider of insurance products and insurance-based wealth accumulation products, driven by a customer-centric strategy and leveraging the asset management expertise and products managed by our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment. Present in many of Asia’s largest and fastest growing economies, we are well positioned to capitalize on the attractive underlying demographics of the region, underpinned by a rigorous focus on creating value for our customers, employees and shareholders.

We have insurance operations in 11 markets¹: Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, mainland China, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia, and have recently started operations in Myanmar.

We have a diversified multi-channel distribution network, including over 115,000 contracted agents and over 100 bank partnerships. We also work with many independent agents, financial advisors and brokers. Among our bancassurance partnerships we have nine exclusive partnerships, including a long-term partnership with DBS Bank across Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Indonesia, that give us access to over 16 million bank customers.

In 2020, Asia contributed 33% of the Company’s core earnings from operating segments and, as at December 31, 2020, accounted for 11% of the Company’s assets under management and administration.

Profitability

Asia reported net income attributed to shareholders of $1,762 million in 2020 compared with $1,935 million in 2019. Net income attributed to shareholders is comprised of core earnings, which was $2,110 million in 2020 compared with $2,005 million in 2019, and items excluded from core earnings, which amounted to a net charge of $348 million for 2020 compared with a net charge of $70 million in 2019.

Expressed in U.S. dollars, the presentation currency of the segment, net income attributed to shareholders was US$1,322 million in 2020 compared with US$1,457 million in 2019 and core earnings were US$1,576 million in 2020 compared with US$1,511 million in 2019. Items excluded from core earnings are outlined in the table below and amounted to a net charge of US$254 million in 2020 and a net charge of US$54 million in 2019.

Core earnings in 2020 increased 4% compared with 2019, after adjusting for the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Core earnings increased by 10% in Hong Kong and 8% in Asia Other and declined by 18% in Japan. Hong Kong and Asia Other core earnings benefited from in-force business growth, favourable new business product mix, and improved policyholder experience, partially offset by lower new business volumes in Hong Kong. Japan core earnings were impacted by lower new business volumes partially offset by in-force business growth and favourable policyholder experience.

The table below reconciles net income attributed to shareholders to core earnings for Asia for 2020, 2019 and 2018.

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
Core earnings(1),(2)		$	2,110			$	2,005			$	1,766							$	1,576			$	1,511			$	1,363
Items to reconcile core earnings to net income attributed to shareholders:
Investment-related experience related to fixed income trading, market value increases in excess of expected alternative assets investment returns, asset mix changes and credit experience			218				195				284								167				147				219
Direct impact of equity markets and interest rates and variable annuity guarantee liabilities(3)			(583	)			(258	)			(375	)							(433	)			(196	)			(287	)
Change in actuarial methods and assumptions			(41	)			(7	)			27								(32	)			(5	)			21
Reinsurance transactions			58				–				5								44				–				4
Other			–				–				(3	)							–				–				(3	)
Net income attributed to shareholders(2)		$	1,762			$	1,935			$	1,704							$	1,322			$	1,457			$	1,317

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	2018 comparatives for core earnings and net income attributed to shareholders have been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

(3)

The direct impact of markets in 2020 was a charge of US$433 million and included a charge of US$415 million related to fixed income reinvestment rates and a charge of US$18 million related to equity markets and variable annuity guarantee liabilities. The charge in 2019 primarily related to the impact of fixed income reinvestment rates and the URR partially offset by a gain related to equity markets.

Business Performance

(all percentages quoted are on a constant exchange rate basis)

Annualized premium equivalent (“APE”) sales in 2020 were US$2,892 million, representing a decrease of 11% compared with 2019. APE sales were lower in Japan and Hong Kong and consistent with 2019 in Asia Other. In Japan, APE sales in 2020 were US$600 million, a

 

1	In 2019, we made the decision to exit Thailand, and have reached an agreement to sell the operation. Regulatory approval has been obtained and we expect to complete the transaction in the first half of 2021.

 

		19

decrease of 30% compared with 2019 due to accelerated sales of COLI products in the first quarter of 2019 in advance of a change in tax regulations and the adverse impact of COVID-19. Hong Kong APE sales in 2020 were US$773 million, a decrease of 10% compared with 2019, driven by the adverse impact of COVID-19 and a decrease in sales to mainland Chinese visitors. Asia Other APE sales in 2020 of US$1,519 million were in-line with 2019 as growth in Vietnam and mainland China was fully offset by the adverse impact of COVID-19 on sales in the other markets.

New business value (“NBV”) was US$1,037 million in 2020, a decrease of 14% compared with 2019. We experienced lower NBV in Japan and Hong Kong, partially offset by higher NBV in Asia Other. In Japan, NBV in 2020 was US$131 million, a decrease of 50% compared with 2019 due to lower APE sales and a higher COLI mix. In Hong Kong, NBV in 2020 was US$463 million, a decrease of 14% compared with 2019 driven by lower sales and a decline in market interest rates. Asia Other NBV in 2020 was US$443 million, an increase of 9% compared to 2019, primarily as a result of favourable product mix, partially offset by a decline in market interest rates. The new business value margin (“NBV margin”)¹ was 38.8% in 2020, a decrease of 1.0 percentage point compared with 2019.

APE Sales and NBV

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
Annualized premium equivalent sales(1)		$	3,869			$	4,278			$	4,012							$	2,892			$	3,224			$	3,094
New business value(1)			1,387				1,595				1,443								1,037				1,202				1,112
(1) This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.   Assets under Management1 Asia’s assets under management were US$108.7 billion as at December 31, 2020, an increase of US$15.2 billion or 13% compared with December 31, 2019, driven by net customer inflows of US$9.9 billion and market growth during 2020.   Assets under Management(1)
As at December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
General fund(2)		$	115,430			$	100,418			$	88,776							$	90,639			$	77,304			$	65,075
Segregated funds			22,948				20,968				19,333								18,015				16,138				14,176
Total assets under management		$	138,378			$	121,386			$	108,109							$	108,654			$	93,442			$	79,251

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	The 2018 comparative for general fund assets under management has been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

Revenue

Total revenue of US$21.2 billion in 2020 decreased US$0.4 billion compared with 2019. Revenue before net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses increased US$0.5 billion compared with 2019 due to an increase in net premium income and higher investment income. The net premium income increase was primarily driven by the growth of in-force business, partly offset by a decline in new business.

Revenue

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
Gross premiums		$	21,592			$	20,724			$	18,768							$	16,129			$	15,620			$	14,483
Premiums ceded to reinsurers			(1,113	)			(717	)			(656	)							(834	)			(540	)			(507	)
Net premium income			20,479				20,007				18,112								15,295				15,080				13,976
Investment income(1)			2,874				2,570				2,355								2,145				1,938				1,817
Other revenue			1,346				1,215				1,296								1,004				917				1,000
Revenue before net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses			24,699				23,792				21,763								18,444				17,935				16,793
Net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses(2)			3,756				4,881				(2,053	)							2,783				3,670				(1,599	)
Total revenue		$	28,455			$	28,673			$	19,710							$	21,227			$	21,605			$	15,194

 

(1)	The 2018 comparative for investment income has been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

(2)	See “Financial Performance – Impact of Fair Value Accounting” above.

 

 

1	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

 

20   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Strategic Highlights

Asia continues to be a core driver of growth for Manulife, supported by a clear strategy, a focus on execution, a strong team, and a diversified footprint in 11 markets with a compelling economic backdrop. We operate in many of the fastest growing markets in the world, and middle-class emergence, combined with an estimated doubling of household wealth in Asia from 2015 to 2025, will continue to drive demand for financial solutions.

We continued to accelerate our growth by expanding our distribution reach and we implemented several changes to enhance customer experience. In 2020, we:

 

•

Increased the number of agents by 21% to over 115,000. Our active number of agents grew by 14% year-on-year. We now have 6,400 Million Dollar Round Table agents compared with 3,700 in 2019;

•

Continued our expansion in bancassurance with the signing of an agreement with VietinBank1 to establish an exclusive 16-year bancassurance partnership to better meet the growing financial and insurance needs of the Vietnamese people. Our nine exclusive bancassurance partnerships, including a major pan-Asia partnership with DBS Bank, give us access to over 16 million bank customers,

•

Extended our strategic bancassurance arrangement with PT Bank Danamon Indonesia Tbk in the first quarter of 2020. The new agreement extends the term covered in the original agreement to 2036;

•

Grew our customer base to more than 12 million customers and saw positive momentum in rNPS. We sold our first policy in Myanmar, a digitally savvy market with one of the lowest insurance penetration rates in Asia; and

•

Received approval from China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission to begin preparation work to establish a new branch in Shaanxi Province.

We continued to enhance our digital capabilities and rolled out a number of key customer initiatives and advanced our digital strategy. In 2020, we:

 

•

Expanded our distribution capabilities, with approximately 97%2 of our product shelf now accessible to customers through virtual face-to-face methods3;

•

Expanded the deployment of e-claims to Malaysia, Philippines and Cambodia;

•

Collaborated with Dacadoo, a Swiss-based global digital health platform provider to strengthen our existing health engagement platform, ManulifeMOVE. This initiative will enable customers to more easily understand their health and be guided to develop healthier habits. We ended 2020 with over 1,000,000 policyholders enrolled in ManulifeMOVE, almost doubling the number of policyholders enrolled at the end of 2019; and

•

Entered into a partnership with Cong Dong Bau, a community with more than 5 million members that improves access to financial advice and solutions for expectant and new mothers.

We made progress on building our high performing team. Our overall employee engagement score improved, contributing to the year-on-year improvement for the wider group. We continue to develop our talent and secured executives in key leadership roles by appointing an emerging market General Manager and a regional Chief Marketing Officer.

 

1	Pending regulatory approval; not included in the nine exclusive bank arrangements, which includes bancassurance partnership with UAB that received regulatory approval in January 2021.

2	This represents the percentage of 2019 APE sales that are currently available for sale via virtual face-to-face methods.

3	Virtual face-to-face, includes digital as well as non-digital solutions.

 

		21

3. Canada

Our Canada segment is a leading financial services provider, offering insurance products, insurance-based wealth accumulation products and banking services, has an in-force variable annuity business, and leveraging the asset management expertise and products managed by our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment. The comprehensive solutions we offer target a broad range of customer needs and foster holistic long-lasting relationships.

We offer financial protection solutions to individuals, families and business owners through a combination of competitive products, professional advice and quality customer service. We provide group life, health and disability insurance solutions to Canadian employers, with approximately 24,000 Canadian businesses and organizations entrusting their employee benefit programs to Manulife’s Group Insurance. We also provide life, health and specialty products, such as mortgage creditor and travel insurance, through advisors, sponsor groups and associations, as well as direct-to-customer. We continue to increase the proportion of products with behavioural insurance features.

Manulife Bank offers flexible debt and cash flow management solutions as part of a customer’s overall financial plan. Products include savings and chequing accounts, GICs, lines of credit, investment loans, mortgages and other specialized lending programs, offered through financial advisors supported by a broad distribution network.

In 2020, Canada contributed 19% of the Company’s core earnings from operating segments and, as at December 31, 2020, accounted for 12% of the Company’s assets under management and administration.

Profitability

Canada’s full year 2020 net income attributed to shareholders was $195 million compared with $1,122 million in 2019. Net income attributed to shareholders is comprised of core earnings, which was $1,174 million in 2020 compared with $1,201 million in 2019, and items excluded from core earnings, which amounted to a net charge of $979 million for 2020 compared with a net charge of $79 million in 2019. Items excluded from core earnings are outlined in the table below.

The $27 million or 2% decrease in core earnings was driven by the unfavourable impact of travel claims, lower retail sales in our individual insurance business, the non-recurrence of gains from the second phase of our segregated fund transfer program in 2019 and a number of smaller experience-related items, partially offset by favourable policyholder experience in both group and individual insurance.

The table below reconciles net income attributed to shareholders to core earnings for Canada for 2020, 2019 and 2018.

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Core earnings(1),(2)		$	1,174			$	1,201			$	1,327
Items to reconcile core earnings to net income attributed to shareholders:
Investment-related experience related to fixed income trading, market value increases in excess of expected alternative assets investment returns, asset mix changes and credit experience			(260	)			477				240
Direct impact of equity markets and interest rates and variable annuity guarantee liabilities(3)			(817	)			(414	)			(307	)
Change in actuarial methods and assumptions			77				(108	)			(370	)
Charge related to decision to change portfolio asset mix supporting our legacy businesses			–				–				–
Reinsurance transactions			21				(30	)			102
Tax-related items and other(4)			–				(4	)			(10	)
Net income attributed to shareholders(2)		$	195			$	1,122			$	982

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	2018 comparatives for core earnings and net income attributed to shareholders have been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

(3)

The direct impact of markets in 2020 was a charge of $817 million and included a charge of $708 million related to fixed income reinvestment rates and a charge of $109 million related to the direct impact of equity markets and variable annuity guarantee liabilities. The charge in 2019 included charges related to fixed income reinvestment rates including a charge related to changes in the URR and were partially offset by the direct impact of equity markets and variable annuity guarantee liabilities.

(4)	The 2019 charge of $4 million relates to the impact of tax rate changes in the province of Alberta, Canada.

Business Performance

APE sales were $1,148 million in 2020, an increase of $91 million or 9% compared with 2019. Individual insurance APE sales in 2020 of $409 million increased $13 million or 3% compared with 2019, driven by higher affinity market sales, partially offset by lower retail sales due to the adverse impact of COVID-19. Group insurance APE sales of $493 million in 2020 increased $44 million or 10% compared with 2019 due to higher large-case sales, partially offset by lower small and mid-size business sales. Annuities APE sales in 2020 of $246 million increased $34 million or 16% compared with 2019 due to higher sales of our lower risk segregated fund products.

Sales

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
APE sales(1)		$	1,148			$	1,057			$	975

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

 

22   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Manulife Bank average net lending assets were $22.5 billion in 2020, up $0.6 billion or 3% compared with 2019.

Assets under Management

Assets under management of $159.3 billion as at December 31, 2020 increased by $8.0 billion or 5% from $151.3 billion at December 31, 2019, due to the impact of lower interest rates on asset values.

Assets under Management⁽¹⁾

 

As at December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
General fund(2)		$	121,657			$	115,613			$	108,607
Segregated funds			37,650				35,645				33,306
Total assets under management		$	159,307			$	151,258			$	141,913

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	The 2018 comparative for general fund assets under management has been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

Revenue

Total revenue of $18.6 billion in 2020 decreased $1.0 billion from $19.6 billion in 2019. Revenue before net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses of $13.9 billion in 2020 decreased $0.9 billion from $14.8 billion in 2019 due to lower investment income as a result of declines in oil and gas prices in the first quarter of 2020 (“1Q20”) and the impact of lower interest rates.

Revenue

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Gross premiums		$	10,756			$	10,667			$	10,974
Premiums ceded to reinsurers			(1,589	)			(1,592	)			(1,547	)
Net premium income			9,167				9,075				9,427
Investment income(1)			3,711				4,597				4,119
Other revenue			1,013				1,088				1,446
Revenue before net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses			13,891				14,760				14,992
Net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses(2)			4,747				4,849				(1,394	)
Total revenue		$	18,638			$	19,609			$	13,598

 

(1)	The 2018 comparative for investment income has been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

(2)	See “Financial Performance – Impact of Fair Value Accounting” above.

Strategic Highlights

In 2020, we took actions to protect the health and well-being of our customers. We have made important progress in advancing our digital capabilities to interact with customers in new and different ways and simplify our processes to make our products more accessible. We continued to modernize our business by developing innovative product solutions and continuing to build a customer-centric digital platform. We continued to successfully execute on our expense reduction strategy to strengthen financial results and improve the risk-return profile in our home market. Our Canada segment remains focused on building and fostering holistic long-lasting relationships with our clients by expanding and integrating our insurance, insurance-based wealth accumulation and banking solutions to meet customers’ needs and by leveraging the strength of our group franchise.

We continued to grow our business by developing innovative product solutions and modernizing our delivery process. In 2020, we:

 

•

Enhanced our Group Benefits product offering with the introduction of Health by Design, a proactive approach using the latest science, technology and predictive analytics to help our members with their unique health journey;

•

Released a new Return to Work Playbook incorporating physical and mental health and safety guidance to support our Group Benefits clients as they return to their workplaces;

•

Continued to see growth in our group insurance Vitality program, the first evidence-rich program of its kind in Canada, designed to encourage participants to make healthy choices using proven behavioural science;

•

Enhanced our product offerings and provided relief for our customers since the onset of the pandemic, including a temporary extension of emergency out-of-country coverage for our group and individual customers who experienced travel delays; and

•

Introduced flexible financial solutions to support our banking clients, such as deferrals and relief programs for residential and commercial mortgages, loans and credit cards.

 

		23

We have executed on a number of initiatives to expand our digital capabilities focused on non-face-to-face product accessibility and personalized customer service. In 2020, we:

 

•

Continued to focus on acceleration of our digital capabilities to improve the client experience, with approximately 97%1 of our product shelf accessible to customers through virtual face-to-face methods2;

•

Expanded our partnership with Akira Health to provide a broader range of online medical services to our insurance clients to better support their health and wellness;

•

Continued to advance a number of new group insurance digital platforms to simplify the enrolment experience, claims submission and processing as well as communication with group insurance members;

•

Introduced a new mortgage creditor tool becoming the first mortgage insurance provider to offer an online mortgage insurance application; and

•

Received a Gold dotcom international award for the redesign of manulifebank.ca and launched a refreshed user experience with personalized insights in our top-rated iOS and Android app for Manulife Bank customers.

 

1	Represents the percentage of 2019 APE sales that are currently available for sale via virtual face-to-face methods.

2	Virtual face-to-face, includes digital as well as non-digital solutions.

 

24   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

4. U.S.

Our U.S. segment provides a range of life insurance products, insurance-based wealth accumulation products, and has an in-force long-term care insurance business and an in-force annuity business.

The insurance products we offer are designed to provide estate, business and income-protection solutions for high net worth, emerging affluent markets and the middle market, and to leverage the asset management expertise and products managed by our Global Wealth and Asset Management business. Behavioural insurance features are standard on all our new insurance product offerings. The primary distribution channel is licenced financial advisors. We aim to establish lifelong customer relationships that benefit from our holistic protection and wealth product offerings in the future.

Our in-force long-term care insurance policies provide coverage for the cost of long-term services and support.

Our in-force annuity business includes fixed deferred, variable deferred, and payout products.

In 2020, U.S. contributed 31% of the Company’s core earnings from operating segments and, as at December 31, 2020, accounted for 18% of the Company’s assets under management and administration.

Profitability

U.S. reported net income attributed to shareholders of $1,269 million in 2020 compared with $1,428 million in 2019. Net income attributed to shareholders is comprised of core earnings, which was $1,995 million in 2020 compared with $1,876 million in 2019, and items excluded from core earnings, which amounted to a net charge of $726 million in 2020 compared with a net charge of $448 million in 2019.

Expressed in U.S. dollars, the functional currency of the segment, 2020 net income attributed to shareholders was US$987 million compared with US$1,074 million in 2019 and core earnings were US$1,485 million in 2020 compared with US$1,414 million in 2019. Items excluded from core earnings are outlined in the table below and amounted to a net charge of US$498 million in 2020 compared with a net charge of US$340 million in 2019.

The US$71 million increase in core earnings was driven by higher in-force earnings and a focus on reduced spending in the current economic environment, partially offset by the non-recurrence of a favourable true-up of prior year tax provisions in 2019. Insurance policyholder experience was consistent with the prior year, as unfavourable life insurance experience, which included COVID-19 related claim losses, was offset by favourable long-term care experience resulting from claim terminations due to the impact of COVID-19.

The table below reconciles net income attributed to shareholders to core earnings for the U.S. for 2020, 2019 and 2018.

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
Core earnings(1),(2)		$	1,995			$	1,876			$	1,789							$	1,485			$	1,414			$	1,380
Items to reconcile core earnings to net income attributed to shareholders:
Investment-related experience related to fixed income trading, market value increases in excess of expected alternative assets investment returns, asset mix changes and credit experience			(717	)			66				17								(515	)			49				10
Direct impact of equity markets and interest rates and variable annuity guarantee liabilities(3)			30				(693	)			236								46				(525	)			191
Change in actuarial methods and assumptions			(301	)			71				286								(226	)			54				219
Charge related to decision to change portfolio asset mix supporting our legacy businesses			–				–				–								–				–				–
Reinsurance transactions			262				111				68								197				84				51
Tax-related items and other(4)			–				(3	)			(105	)							–				(2	)			(83	)
Net income (loss) attributed to shareholders(2)		$	1,269			$	1,428			$	2,291							$	987			$	1,074			$	1,768

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	The 2018 comparatives for core earnings and net income (loss) attributed to shareholders have been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

(3)

The direct impact of markets in 2020 was a gain of US$46 million and included a gain of US$113 million related to fixed income reinvestment rates, partially offset by a charge of US$67 million related to the direct impact of equity markets and variable annuity guarantee liabilities. The charge in 2019 is primarily related to fixed income reinvestment rates and changes to the URR, partially offset by gains from the direct impact of equity markets and variable annuity guarantee liabilities.

(4)	Tax-related items and other in 2019 was fees related to legacy transactions. Charges in 2018 primarily relate to U.S. tax reform.

Business Performance

U.S. APE sales in 2020 of US$455 million decreased 14% compared with 2019, as lower international universal life, domestic protection universal life, and variable universal life sales more than offset higher term life and domestic indexed universal life sales. The decline in APE sales was due to higher domestic universal life sales in advance of anticipated regulatory changes in 2019 and the unfavourable

 

		25

impact of COVID-19 in 2020. Sales of products with the John Hancock Vitality PLUS feature in 2020 were US$220 million, an increase of 17% compared with 2019.

Sales

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
APE sales(1)		$	609			$	702			$	553							$	455			$	530			$	426

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

Assets under Management

U.S. assets under management of US$188 billion as at December 31, 2020 increased 6% from December 31, 2019. The increase was driven by the favourable impact of markets partially offset by the continued run-off of our annuities business and the reinsurance of a block of our legacy U.S. BOLI business in the third quarter of 2020 (“3Q20”).

Assets under Management⁽¹⁾

 

As at December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
General fund(2)		$	162,508			$	153,731			$	150,772							$	127,638			$	118,364			$	110,520
Segregated funds			77,053				76,625				72,874								60,519				58,996				53,420
Total assets under management		$	239,561			$	230,356			$	223,646							$	188,157			$	177,360			$	163,940

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	The 2018 comparatives for general fund assets under management have been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

Revenue

Total revenue in 2020 of US$17.3 billion decreased US$1.2 billion compared with 2019. Revenue before net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses was US$9.6 billion, a decrease of US$2.6 billion compared with 2019 primarily due to the net impact of the reinsurance of a block of our legacy U.S. BOLI business in 3Q20 and lower investment income, partially offset by the impact of a one-time ceded premium in 2019 from the reinsurance of legacy annuity business.

Revenue

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		Canadian $																US $
		2020				2019				2018								2020				2019				2018
Gross premium income		$	8,952			$	9,588			$	9,335							$	6,678			$	7,227			$	7,201
Premiums ceded to reinsurers			(5,821	)			(3,204	)			(12,961	)							(4,355	)			(2,414	)			(9,878	)
Net premium income			3,131				6,384				(3,626	)							2,323				4,813				(2,677	)
Investment income(1)			7,029				7,140				7,291								5,254				5,382				5,624
Other revenue			2,711				2,654				2,542								2,025				2,000				1,966
Revenue before items noted below			12,871				16,178				6,207								9,602				12,195				4,913
Net realized and unrealized investment gains and losses(2)			10,490				8,416				(5,621	)							7,701				6,320				(4,423	)
Total revenue		$	23,361			$	24,594			$	586							$	17,303			$	18,515			$	490

 

(1)	The 2018 comparative for investment income has been updated to reflect the 2019 methodology for allocating capital and interest on surplus to our insurance segments from the Corporate and Other segment.

(2)	See “Financial Performance – Impact of Fair Value Accounting” above.

Strategic Highlights

At John Hancock, we are focused on building more holistic and long-lasting customer relationships by offering innovative products and solutions and making it easier for customers to do business with us. We are focused on growing our insurance business by expanding our product offerings, modernizing the delivery process, and enhancing customer experience. In 2020, we:

 

•

Continued to see growth in our “Vitality for All” strategy with two versions of Vitality: Vitality GO and Vitality PLUS, and extending Vitality benefits to all insurance customers;

•

Announced a strategic collaboration with Amazon which adds the Halo wellness band to devices supported by John Hancock’s Vitality Program;

•

Launched numerous digital services, such as chat bots, SMS texts, non-paper apps and digital payment tools, with the goal of improving customer satisfaction and rNPS including a new, fully underwritten term life product in the U.S. which enables customers to purchase up to US$1 million in life insurance coverage digitally;

 

26   |  2020 Annual Report  |  Management’s Discussion and Analysis

•

Launched an eApplication to be used by brokers to streamline the application process. This online platform is a major step toward offering a fully digital end-to-end application experience;

•

Implemented a digital new business/policy issue process that eliminates the reliance on paper applications for International insurance customers; and

•

Extended the grace period for our life insurance policyholders to make premium payments and increased the payout limits permitted via phone for our annuity and life customers to accommodate their needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We continued to make significant progress to optimize our portfolio through both organic and inorganic initiatives and create tangible shareholder value through various in-force management initiatives despite the current macroenvironmental and COVID-19 challenges. In 2020, we:

 

•

Completed legacy optimization initiatives that contributed over $2.1 billion of cumulative capital benefits through December 31, 2020, including $765 million in 2020;

•

Completed an agreement with Global Atlantic Financial Group to reinsure a block of legacy U.S. BOLI business that resulted in a capital benefit of $465 million;

•

Continued our Annuity Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit offer program that has released $200 million of capital since the start of the program, including $125 million in 2020;

•

Reinsured individual and group payout annuity policies and sold the associated ALDA which enabled us to release $90 million of capital. We expanded reinsurance coverage of certain universal life no lapse guarantee products that resulted in the release of $70 million of capital;

•

Executed on additional organic initiatives (LTC Claims Management & Wellness program) to optimize the performance of the legacy block that released an additional $15 million of capital in 2020; and

•

Continued to make progress in securing long-term care premium rate increases.

 

		27

5. Global Wealth and Asset Management

Our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, branded as Manulife Investment Management (“MIM”), provides investment advice and innovative solutions to retirement, retail, and institutional clients. Our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 17 countries and territories¹, including 10 markets and 120 years of on-the-ground experience in Asia. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world.

In retirement, we provide financial guidance, advice, and investment solutions to nearly 8 million plan participants and members in North America and Asia. In North America, our Canadian retirement business focuses on providing retirement solutions through defined contribution and defined benefit plans, and also to group plan members when they retire or leave their plan; and in the United States, we provide employer sponsored retirement plans as well as personal retirement accounts when individuals leave their plan. In Asia, we provide retirement offerings to employers and individuals, including Mandatory Provident Fund (“MPF”) schemes and administration in Hong Kong. Additionally, we provide retirement solutions in several emerging retirement markets in Asia including Indonesia and Malaysia.

We distribute investment funds to retail clients primarily through intermediaries and banks in North America, Europe and Asia and offer investment strategies across the world, through our affiliated and from unaffiliated asset managers. In Canada, we also provide personalized investment management, private banking and wealth and estate solutions to high net worth clients.

Our institutional asset management business provides comprehensive asset management solutions for pension plans, foundations, endowments, financial institutions and other institutional investors worldwide. Our solutions span all major asset classes including equities, fixed income, alternative assets (including real estate, timberland, farmland, private equity/debt, infrastructure, and liquid alternatives). In addition, we offer multi-asset investment solutions covering a broad range of clients’ investment needs.

We are committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We continue to enhance and develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets.

In 2020, Global WAM contributed 17% of the Company’s core earnings from operating segments and, as at December 31, 2020, represented 58% of the Company’s total assets under management and administration.

Profitability

Global WAM’s 2020 net income attributed to shareholders was $1,100 million compared with $1,022 million in 2019, and core earnings were $1,100 million in 2020 compared with $1,021 million in 2019. Items excluded from core earnings are outlined in the table below and amounted to nil in 2020 compared with a net gain of $1 million in 2019.

Core earnings increased $79 million or 7% on a constant exchange rate basis driven by higher average assets under management and administration and lower general expenses from ongoing efficiency initiatives. The increase was partially offset by unfavorable product mix, lower fee spread in U.S. Retirement, and lower tax benefits.

The table below reconciles net income attributed to shareholders to core earnings for the Global WAM segment for 2020, 2019 and 2018.

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Core earnings(1)
Asia		$	344			$	289			$	257
Canada			363				319				266
U.S.			393				413				462
Core earnings			1,100				1,021				985
Items to reconcile core earnings to net income attributed to shareholders:
Tax-related items and other(2)			–				1				(31	)
Net income attributed to shareholders		$	1,100			$	1,022			$	954

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

(2)	The 2018 charge of $31 million primarily relates to the integration of businesses acquired from Standard Chartered.

In 2020, core EBITDA² for Global WAM was $1,676 million, $576 million higher than core earnings. In 2019, core EBITDA was $1,536 million, $515 million higher than core earnings. The increase in core EBITDA of $140 million or 8% on a constant exchange rate basis was driven by higher net fee income and lower general expenses. Core EBITDA margin¹ was 29.2% in 2020 compared with 27.5% in 2019. The 170 basis points increase was driven by the factors noted above and reflects our scale and commitment to expense efficiency.

 

 

1	United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and mainland China. In addition, we have timberland/farmland operations in Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

2	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

 

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Core EBITDA

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Core earnings(1)		$	1,100			$	1,021			$	985
Amortization of deferred acquisition costs and other depreciation			319				311				301
Amortization of deferred sales commissions			85				81				98
Core income tax expense (recovery)			172				123				113
Core EBITDA(1)		$	1,676			$	1,536			$	1,497
Core EBITDA margin(1)			29.2%				27.5%				27.4%

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

Business Performance

Gross Flows and Net Flows

In 2020, gross flows of $130.2 billion increased $16.0 billion or 13% compared with 2019, driven by higher gross flows across all geographies. In Asia, gross flows increased $2.4 billion or 10% compared with 2019, primarily driven by higher retail gross flows in Indonesia and higher retirement gross flows in Hong Kong. In Canada, gross flows increased $6.8 billion or 28% compared with 2019, driven by the funding of a $6.9 billion mandate from a new client in Institutional Asset Management in 2Q20. In the U.S., gross flows increased $6.8 billion or 9% compared with 2019, driven by strong intermediary sales and higher institutional model allocations in Retail partially offset by the non-recurrence of several large sales in Institutional Asset Management in 2019.

Net inflows were $8.9 billion in 2020, compared with net outflows of $0.9 billion in 2019. In Asia, net inflows were $3.9 billion in 2020 compared with net inflows of $4.8 billion in 2019 reflecting lower retail net flows mainly in mainland China and Hong Kong, partially offset by higher net flows in Indonesia Retail and Hong Kong Retirement. In Canada, net inflows were $14.6 billion in 2020 compared with net outflows of $3.6 billion in 2019, driven by improved net inflows in Institutional Asset Management from the non-recurrence of an $8.5 billion redemption in 2019 and the funding of a $6.9 billion mandate from a new client in 2Q20, and in Retirement, from lower plan redemptions and individual withdrawals. In the U.S., net outflows were $9.6 billion in 2020 compared with net outflows of $2.0 billion in 2019, driven by a $5.0 billion redemption of an equity mandate, and the non-recurrence of several large sales in Institutional Asset Management in 2019, as well as higher redemptions in Retirement, mainly due to member withdrawals under the U.S. CARES Act during the year.

Asia WAM

 

•

Gross flows in Asia in 2020 were $23.4 billion, an increase of 10% compared with 2019, driven by higher gross flows across all business lines. Growth was driven primarily by higher gross flows of retail money market funds in Indonesia, higher retirement gross flows in Hong Kong, and institutional fixed income product launches in mainland China.

•

Net inflows in 2020 were $3.9 billion compared with net inflows of $4.8 billion in 2019, driven by retail redemptions in Indonesia, Hong Kong, and mainland China and higher redemptions in Hong Kong Retirement. This was partially offset by higher gross flows as mentioned above.

Canada WAM

 

•

Gross flows in Canada in 2020 were $30.9 billion, an increase of 28% compared with 2019, driven by the funding of a $6.9 billion mandate from a new client in Institutional Asset Management in Canada in 2Q20 and higher gross flows across our product line-up in Retail. This was partially offset by the lower new plan sales in Retirement.

•

Net inflows in 2020 were $14.6 billion compared with net outflows of $3.6 billion in 2019, driven by improved net flows in Institutional Asset Management from the non-recurrence of an $8.5 billion redemption in 2019 and the 2Q20 funding of a $6.9 billion mandate mentioned above, and lower plan redemptions and individual withdrawals in Retirement.

U.S. WAM¹

 

•

Gross flows in the U.S. in 2020 were $75.9 billion, an increase of 9% compared with 2019. The increase was driven by strong intermediary sales and higher institutional model allocations in Retail, partially offset by the non-recurrence of several large sales in Institutional Asset Management in 2019.

•

Net outflows in 2020 were $9.6 billion, compared with net outflows of $2.0 billion in 2019, driven by a $5.0 billion redemption of an equity mandate in Institutional Asset Management in 3Q20, higher redemptions in Retirement mainly due to member withdrawals under the U.S. CARES Act during the year, and higher retail redemptions amid market volatility in the first half of 2020. This was partially offset by higher gross flows as mentioned above.

 

1	Includes performance by our operations in Europe.

 

		29

Gross Flows and Net Flows⁽¹⁾

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Gross flows		$	130,212			$	114,246			$	119,002
Net flows			8,919				(879	)			1,563

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

Assets under Management and Administration

In 2020, AUMA for our wealth and asset management businesses were $753.6 billion, 12% higher than December 31, 2019 on a constant exchange rate basis driven by the favourable impact of markets and year-to-date net inflows of $8.9 billion. As of December 31, 2020, Global WAM also managed $212.4 billion in assets for the Company’s non-WAM reporting segments. Including those assets, AUMA managed by Global WAM was $966.0 billion compared with $879.2 billion as at December 31, 2019.

Assets under Management and Administration⁽¹⁾

 

For the years ended December 31, ($ billions)		2020				2019				2018
Balance January 1,		$	681			$	609			$	609
Acquisitions/Dispositions			1				(1	)			1
Net flows			9				(1	)			2
Impact of markets and other			63				74				(3	)
Balance December 31,		$	754			$	681			$	609
Average assets under management and administration		$	698			$	651			$	639

 

(1)	This item is a non-GAAP measure. See “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” below.

Revenue

Total revenue in 2020 of $5.7 billion increased 2% compared with 2019, driven by higher average assets under management and administration, partially offset by the impact of changes in product mix and lower fee spread in the U.S. Retirement business.

Revenue

 

As at December 31, ($ millions)		2020				2019				2018
Fee income		$	5,710			$	5,562			$	5,472
Investment income			39				33				(9	)
Total revenue		$	5,749			$	5,595			$	5,463

Strategic Highlights

Leveraging our integrated business model and global scale; we have a clear strategy to pursue high-growth opportunities in the most attractive markets globally through our three business lines: Retirement, Retail and Institutional Asset Management. Our strategy includes becoming a global retirement leader by supporting financial wellness; expanding our presence in regional retail mutual fund distribution across the globe; leveraging a multi-manager model; and providing differentiated active asset management capabilities across high-performing equity and fixed income strategies, outcome-oriented solutions and alternative assets.

We executed on a number of initiatives to accelerate growth in our franchise. In 2020, we:

 

•

Acquired a minority stake in Albamen Capital Partners, a private equity infrastructure investment manager with a focus on renewable energy, data centers and other power-intensive infrastructure assets in mainland China. This deal realizes a strategic goal for an on-the-ground infrastructure private equity capability in the Asia Pacific region and underlines the firm’s strong commitment to the China market;

•

Completed the formation of our previously announced joint venture with Mahindra Finance, through which we aim to expand fund offerings, drive fund penetration, and achieve long term wealth creation in India;

•

Continued to develop innovative products with the launch of Hong Kong’s first MPF retirement income fund, aiming to provide regular and stable income in retirement. Additionally, we announced a strategic alliance with Allianz Global Investors, strengthening our position as the largest MPF scheme sponsor;1 and

•

Once again earned top scores in the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (“PRI”) annual assessment report for integrating environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) considerations into our investment practices across a range of asset classes. Manulife Investment Management was also recognized in the PRI Leaders’ Group 2020, a 10-year initiative honouring

 

1	Market share of assets under management and net cash flows by scheme sponsor as reported in the Mercer MPF Market Share Reports for March 31, June 30, September 30, 2020.

 

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