Manulife appoints new CEO

Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Philippines) Inc. has appointed Richard Bates as its new president and chief executive officer, replacing Ryan Charland, who has been assigned to lead the company’s unit in Indonesia.

In a statement, Manulife Philippines said Bates is a finance industry veteran with experience in advancing insurance penetration in emerging markets in Asia.

Before joining Manulife, he served as the CEO Bates

of a multinational insurance firm in Cambodia, where he spearheaded the company’s market entry and launched its multi-channel operations.

Bates was also responsible for the Asian operations of a private equity fund focused on investing and incubating insurance start-ups.

“With its young and dynamic population and its promising economic growth prospects, the Philippines is one of AsiaPacific’s most exciting markets for life insurance and investments,” Bates said.

“Manulife Philippines’ focus on providing exceptional customer experience through leveraging technology, combined with its strong history of serving Filipinos and its track record for developing innovative products and services, is a potent recipe for success. I see a lot of opportunity for growth and I am excited to work with a strong team to make that happen,” he said.

In 2018, Manulife maintained its spot as the sixth largest life insurance company in the Philippines with a total premium income of P16.39 billion. This was, however, 7.4 percent lower than the P17.7 billion premium income it generated in 2017.

The company also took the fourth spot in the life insurance sector in terms of net income, with a total of P2.59 billion in 2018.

Manulife’s net worth as of the end of December 2018 also reached P14.43 billion, the fourth largest in the industry, while assets amounted to P95.85 billion.