Manulife Named #1 Life Insurer for AI Maturity for Second Consecutive Year by Evident

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Named top insurer in Canada, first in the AI Leadership category, and ranked third overall – 

underscoring Manulife's strategic priority to be an AI-powered organization

TORONTO and BOSTON and HONG KONG, June 16, 2026 /CNW/ - Manulife has been named the number one life insurance company for AI maturity overall for the second consecutive year in the 2026 Evident AI Index for Insurance, is now the top insurer in Canada and number one in the AI Leadership category and ranks third overall. These accolades highlight Manulife's ability to scale AI-driven innovation across its global footprint, delivering measurable business value and impact, and accelerating its strategic priority to operate as an AI-powered organization.

"We're proud to be named the number one life insurer for AI maturity for the second year in a row – and are now a top three company overall. This is a powerful validation of Manulife's refreshed enterprise strategy, and our commitment to being an AI-powered organization globally," said Phil Witherington, President and CEO, Manulife. "As we continue to scale, we are focused on disciplined execution and responsible deployment. We expect to generate more than $1 billion¹ of enterprise value by 2027, with $300 million achieved as of year-end 2025, reinforcing that our approach is not only improving productivity and efficiency, but also delivering real impact for our customers, colleagues and shareholders."

According to Evident, Manulife has disclosed the deployment of more use cases than any other insurer across the Index. This deployment over the past year reflects a continuous focus on prioritizing AI solutions that deliver measurable outcomes, including the Manulife Automated Underwriting Decision Engine (MAUDE) in Canada, which processes more than half of eligible individual life insurance applications automatically, delivering decisions in as little as two minutes for qualified applicants; John Hancock's Quick Quote, which simplifies and accelerates the insurance quoting experience; a suite of AI-enabled tools within Manulife Wealth & Asset Management designed to enhance investment insights and decision-making; and AI-driven capabilities across Asia, from digital underwriting and claims management, AI Assistants for distribution partners, and more personalized customer experiences .

The Evident AI Index for Insurance assesses AI maturity across 30 of the most prominent insurance companies in North America and Europe, measuring progress across four key categories: Talent, Innovation, Leadership, and Transparency. This year's results reflect a significantly higher bar across the industry, as insurers transition from capability building to scaled deployment and optimization.

Manulife ranked first in the Leadership pillar and with strong scores in Transparency, with Evident citing the company's consistent executive engagement, industry influence, and transparent approach.

"This recognition reflects the depth of AI integration across Manulife and the deliberate way we are scaling its impact," said Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer, Manulife. "Our focus is on practical, responsible applications of AI that deliver measurable outcomes, underpinned by strong governance that is increasingly automated and embedded into how AI is developed and used. Being recognized among industry leaders in AI maturity reflects the sustained progress our teams are making as we evolve from adoption to consistent, enterprise-wide execution."

"Manulife ranks first amongst life insurers in the Evident AI Index for Insurance for the second year running, reflecting its ability to build AI capability around the workflows that matter most," said Alexandra Mousavizadeh, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Evident. "Manulife shows a deliberate approach towards building AI capacity, growing the AI talent pool by 41% year-on-year, embedding a scalable architecture, and using AI to deliver improvements in access, conversation and long-term customer relationships. Being amongst a very small number of insurers to publish both realized and projected returns at the company level demonstrates Manulife's robust internal methodologies."

These results demonstrate the consistency and scale with which Manulife is putting AI into practice across the enterprise. Guided by its refreshed Enterprise Strategy and Responsible AI Principles, the company is embedding AI into day-to-day work to simplify processes, improve decision making and deliver better outcomes for customers, advisors and colleagues.

To learn more about Manulife's approach to artificial intelligence, visit manulife.com/AI. The full 2026 Evident AI Insurance Index report and methodology are available at evidentinsights.com.

Caution regarding forward-looking statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbour" provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to Manulife's use of its digital capabilities and the expected benefits it expects to realize from AI. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to general business and economic conditions; changes in laws and regulations with respect to the use of AI-enabled tools; our ability to execute our digital plans and to deploy future digital use cases; our ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; our ability to attract and retain key employees and our ability to protect our intellectual property and exposure to claims of infringement from others. Additional information about material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations may be found in our most recent annual and interim reports and elsewhere in our filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

The forward-looking statements in this document are, unless otherwise indicated, stated as of the date hereof. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Anchored in our ambition to be the number one choice for customers, we operate as Manulife across Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice, insurance and health solutions for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment solutions, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2025, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 106,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 37 million customers with operations across 25 markets globally. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and Philippine stock exchanges, and under '945' on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

Media Contact

Gina Simonis

617-840-4794

GSimonis@Manulife.com 

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