Manulife (MFC.TO) Hits Record High on Q3 Beat, India Mahindra JV and $350M Longevity Push

Manulife Financial Corporation (TSX: MFC, NYSE: MFC) has packed a full strategic reset, fresh Asian expansion, and a record quarter of earnings momentum into just a couple of days — and the market is cheering.

Shares of Manulife jumped as much as 3.3% today to an all‑time high of C$49.82 in Toronto after the Canadian insurer beat Q3 estimates, unveiled a refreshed growth strategy, and confirmed a 50:50 life‑insurance joint venture in India with Mahindra & Mahindra. ^[1]

Below is a full rundown of everything investors need to know about Manulife’s news flow around 13 November 2025 — from earnings and dividends to the India JV, longevity bet and governance moves.

Q3 2025: Record Core Earnings and an Earnings Beat

Manulife’s Q3 2025 results, released after the close on November 12, set the financial backdrop for today’s move in the stock. ^[2]

Key headline numbers (all figures in billions unless noted):

Core earnings:$2.04B, up 10% year‑on‑year and ahead of analyst expectations of about $1.80B. ^[3]
Net income attributed to shareholders:$1.80B, down about 3% versus Q3 2024, reflecting assumption updates and market factors but still solid overall profitability. ^[4]
Core EPS:$1.16, up 16% year‑over‑year and above consensus of roughly $1.05, according to Refinitiv data. ^[5]
Reported EPS:$1.02, up 2% from a year earlier. ^[6]
Core ROE:18.1%, with ROE at 16.0%, highlighting strong underlying profitability. ^[7]
LICAT ratio:138%, underscoring a robust capital position. ^[8]
New business momentum:
- APE sales up 8% year‑on‑year to $2.58B
- New business CSM up 25%
- New business value (NBV) up 11% ^[9]

Regional and business‑line performance tells you where the growth is coming from:

Asia: Core earnings up 29% year‑on‑year, with strong APE sales and new business metrics, reinforcing Asia as Manulife’s primary growth engine. ^[10]
Canada: Core earnings up 4%, with steady growth in protection and wealth segments. ^[11]
U.S.: Core earnings down 20%, largely due to higher life‑insurance claims, even though new business CSM and sales grew strongly. ^[12]
Global Wealth & Asset Management (Global WAM):
- Core earnings up 9%
- But net flows swung to C$6.2B of outflows, versus C$5.2B of inflows in Q3 2024
- Core EBITDA margin expanded to 30.9%, showing improved operating leverage despite tougher flows. ^[13]

Book value per common share rose 7% to $26.07, and adjusted book value per share climbed 12% to $38.22, while the financial leverage ratio fell to 22.7%, below Manulife’s medium‑term target of 25%, giving the company additional balance‑sheet flexibility. ^[14]

Refinitiv data show that core EPS and core earnings handily beat street expectations, particularly on the strength of Asia and Global WAM, even as the U.S. segment continues to work through higher claims and long‑term care assumptions. ^[15]

Refreshed Strategy: Aiming to Be the “Number One Choice” for Customers

Alongside results, Manulife used this week to formally roll out a refreshed enterprise strategy under new CEO Phil Witherington, who took the top job in May after leading the Asia segment. ^[16]

According to Manulife’s strategy update, the company’s ambition is to become the “number one choice for customers”, built around five elevated strategic priorities: ^[17]

Winning team and culture – a sharpened focus on performance, inclusion and skills for a fast‑changing environment.
Diversified business portfolio – leaning into high‑growth opportunities in Asia and Global WAM, while reinforcing Canada and maintaining a scaled presence in the U.S.
Empowering customer health, wealth and longevity – positioning Manulife as a trusted partner for financial well‑being across the life journey.
AI‑powered organization – scaling AI in underwriting, advice, operations and customer service to raise efficiency and experience. ^[18]
Distribution and partnerships at scale – deepening bancassurance, digital and institutional channels, including new collaborations in Asia and now India. ^[19]

To support this strategy, Manulife reaffirmed its 2027 financial targets: ^[20]

Core ROE: 18% or higher
Cumulative remittances: $22B+ from 2024–2027
Asia’s contribution: 50% of core earnings

The company also highlighted a recent MSCI ESG rating upgrade to AAA, the highest level, citing strong governance and sustainability oversight — a datapoint increasingly relevant for institutional investors. ^[21]

$350M Longevity Institute: Betting on Longer, Healthier Lives

One of the most eye‑catching elements of Manulife’s strategy refresh is the launch of the Manulife Longevity Institute, backed by a $350 million commitment through 2030. ^[22]

According to Manulife, the Longevity Institute will function as a global research, advocacy and community‑investment platform aimed at closing the gap between how long people live and how long they live in good health and with financial security. Initial initiatives include: ^[23]

Collaborative research with organizations such as the Milken Institute
Longevity symposiums in key global markets, particularly in aging Asia
Expanded thought leadership and indices like John Hancock’s “Longevity Preparedness Index” in the U.S.

The institute will operate under the John Hancock Longevity Institute name in the United States and is positioned as a pillar of Manulife’s broader Impact Agenda around health, wealth and sustainability. ^[24]

For investors, the Longevity Institute is more than philanthropy. It reinforces Manulife’s pivot toward longevity‑themed insurance, retirement and asset‑management solutions, a trend that could drive product innovation and customer engagement over the long term.

India: Mahindra Joint Venture Opens a New “Mega Economy” Front

The biggest geographic headline around November 13 is Manulife’s entry into India’s life‑insurance market via a 50:50 joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M). ^[25]

Structure and Capital Commitments

Under the agreement announced on November 12 and widely covered on November 13:

Manulife and Mahindra will create a 50:50 life‑insurance joint venture in India, subject to regulatory approval. ^[26]
Each partner plans to commit up to ₹3,600 crore (about $400M) over the next decade, with around ₹1,250 crore each in the first five years, according to Indian press reports and Mahindra’s disclosures. ^[27]
The JV aims to become the leading life insurer for rural and semi‑urban India, while building a protection‑focused franchise in urban markets. ^[28]

India’s life‑insurance market is growing at a double‑digit clip and is expected to more than double in size by 2030, yet penetration remains low and only around 2% of branches are located in rural areas — a key opportunity Mahindra and Manulife are explicitly targeting. ^[29]

Timing and Regulatory Path

Mahindra management has indicated the venture will: ^[30]

Apply for an IRDAI licence within the next 2–3 months
Take roughly 15–18 months to begin operations
Target break‑even in about 10–12 years, with room to improve that timeline

The JV builds on the existing Mahindra Manulife Investment Management mutual fund partnership launched in 2020, giving the pair an established distribution and brand foothold in India’s savings market. ^[31]

Strategic Fit in Manulife’s Asia Story

On today’s earnings call and in media interviews, Manulife executives emphasized that India now joins the U.S. and China as one of the “mega economies” where the company wants meaningful scale, with CFO Colin Simpson stressing the importance of geographic diversification for stability. ^[32]

Analysts at RBC Securities were quoted as saying that the India and Indonesia investments “seem to make sense on the surface,” reflecting investor support for Manulife’s capital deployment into high‑growth Asian markets. ^[33]

Indonesia and Private Credit: Building Out Global WAM

Beyond India, Manulife is also deepening its presence in Asian asset management and private markets:

In Indonesia, Manulife’s wealth and asset‑management arm has agreed for its local unit, PT Manulife Aset Manajemen Indonesia (MAMI), to acquire PT Schroder Investment Management Indonesia, pending regulatory approval. The deal will make Manulife the largest asset manager in Indonesia by assets, with some sources estimating around a 50% boost to Indonesian AUM. ^[34]
In private credit, Manulife completed the acquisition of 75% of Comvest Credit Partners, a U.S. private‑credit manager with about US$14.7B on its platform, on November 3, 2025. The transaction expands Manulife’s alternative‑credit offering for institutional and wealth clients. ^[35]

These moves align with the company’s strategic priority of a diversified business portfolio and support Global WAM’s earnings growth even as fund flows remain volatile.

Stock Reaction: Record High, Strong Technicals

The combination of a Q3 beat, strategy refresh, and India expansion is showing up clearly in the stock price:

In Toronto, MFC.TO climbed as much as 3.3% to C$49.82, a new all‑time high, before easing slightly. ^[36]
Year‑to‑date, the stock is now up roughly 9–10%, according to Reuters and MarketScreener, outperforming some peers in the Canadian life‑insurance space. ^[37]

Separately, Investor’s Business Daily data show that Manulife’s Relative Strength (RS) Rating was recently nudged upward into the low‑70s, signalling improving technical momentum versus the broader market. ^[38]

Dividends and Capital Returns: Still a Yield Story

Manulife remains a dividend‑focused name, and the latest quarter kept that narrative intact.

The board declared a quarterly common share dividend of $0.44 per share, payable December 19, 2025 to shareholders of record November 26, 2025, consistent with the company’s progressive capital return framework. ^[39]
The company also announced preferred share dividends across 11 series, with the same December 19 payment and November 26 record dates. ^[40]

With a LICAT ratio of 138% and leverage below target, Manulife has room to balance dividends, share buybacks and growth investments, including the India JV and alternative‑asset acquisitions. ^[41]

Governance Moves: New Board Member and U.S. Fund Trustees

Hai Ling Joins Manulife’s Board

On November 12, Manulife announced that Hai Ling will join its Board of Directors effective January 1, 2026. ^[42]

Ling is President for Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Mastercard, serving on the company’s Executive Leadership Team and global Management Committee. He previously held senior roles at Bank of America and HSBC, bringing deep payments, banking and international expansion experience — highly relevant for Manulife’s Asia‑ and technology‑focused growth strategy. ^[43]

Two New Trustees for John Hancock Funds

Today, Manulife’s U.S. asset‑management arm, Manulife John Hancock Investments, also announced the appointment of two new independent trustees to the John Hancock Group of Funds Board: ^[44]

Christine L. Hurtsellers – former CEO and CIO (Fixed Income) of Voya Investment Management, bringing extensive investment‑management, risk and regulatory expertise.
Kenneth J. Phelan – former Chief Risk Officer of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and several financial institutions, adding deep risk‑management and regulatory‑compliance credentials.

The Board now comprises 12 independent trustees and two interested trustees, strengthening governance at a time when Manulife is leaning more heavily on its wealth and asset‑management platform.

How the Story Fits Together for Investors

Pulling all of today’s and yesterday’s announcements together, Manulife’s current story looks like this:

Fundamentals: Record core earnings, expanding core ROE and book value, and a capital position comfortably above regulatory minimums. ^[45]
Growth drivers:
- Asia insurance and retirement business still accelerating
- Global WAM driving higher margins, with added scale from Comvest and Schroders Indonesia
- New entry into India’s huge, underpenetrated life‑insurance market via the Mahindra JV ^[46]
Strategic differentiation: A clear focus on longevity, AI‑enabled operations, and diversified geography across North America and Asia, now backed by the Longevity Institute and refreshed 2027 targets. ^[47]
Shareholder return: A competitive dividend, strong capital metrics, and a track record of using freed‑up capital (including from reinsurance deals) for share buybacks and investments. ^[48]

Of course, risks remain — including net outflows in Global WAM, competitive pressure in Asia, execution risk in India, and sensitivity to interest rates and credit conditions. But as of November 13, 2025, the market is clearly signalling confidence that Manulife’s new chapter under CEO Phil Witherington is off to a strong start.

Note: This article is for information only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own research or consult a qualified financial advisor.

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