Manulife Reports First Quarter 2026 Results

TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC    SEHK: 945                                                                            C$ unless otherwise stated                                                                

TORONTO, May 13, 2026 /CNW/ - Manulife Financial Corporation ("Manulife" or the "Company") reported its first quarter results for the period ended March 31, 2026, delivering double-digit core EPS and new business CSM growth year over year.

Key highlights for the first quarter of 2026 ("1Q26") include:

• Core earnings¹ of $1.8 billion, up 8% on a CER basis² compared with the first quarter of 2025 ("1Q25")
• Net income attributed to shareholders of $1.1 billion, up $0.7 billion from 1Q25
• Core EPS³ of $1.06, up 11%² from 1Q25. EPS of $0.65, up 178%² from 1Q25
• Core ROE³ of 16.5% and ROE of 10.1%
• LICAT ratio⁴ of 136%
• APE sales up 7%⁵, new business CSM up 16%² and new business value ("NBV") up 7%⁵ from 1Q25
• Global Wealth and Asset Management ("Global WAM") net outflows⁵ of $4.4 billion, compared with $0.5 billion of net inflows in 1Q25

"We delivered a solid first quarter, executing our strategy and demonstrating the strength of our diversified portfolio. We generated double-digit growth in core EPS, and new business momentum continued to build, driving double-digit growth in new business CSM across all three insurance segments, despite macroeconomic uncertainty.

"Asia achieved another strong quarter, with 22% growth in core earnings and 15% growth in new business value, reflecting robust contributions from key markets in the region. In Global WAM, core EBITDA margin³ improved year over year, notwithstanding the impact of the eMPF transition, and Manulife | Comvest contributed positively to margin, core earnings and net inflows.

"We made sustained progress against our strategic priorities — expanding our health proposition with new partnerships in Asia and Canada, advancing Global WAM through our partnership with L&G⁶, and further differentiating our U.S. product offerings. We scaled AI delivery across our global footprint to enhance distributor experience and improve productivity and efficiency. We remain well positioned to deliver our targets and capture growth, generating sustainable value for shareholders."⁷

— Phil Witherington, Manulife President & Chief Executive Officer

"Our balance sheet and financial performance demonstrated resilience during a volatile quarter. Excess capital remained strong, our financial leverage ratio improved, and book value per common share increased to an all-time high⁸. We continued to deploy capital in a disciplined manner, returning $1.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, and on the acquisition of Schroders Indonesia. Core ROE was 16.5% for the quarter, an increase of 90 basis points compared with 1Q25, and our expense efficiency ratio of 46%³ remained in-line year over year, while continuing strategic investments in AI and reflecting the impact of the Comvest acquisition in Global WAM."

— Colin Simpson, Manulife Chief Financial Officer

Results at a Glance

Results by Segment

Strategic Highlights

We are executing to expand our diversified portfolio and further strengthen distribution capabilities and product leadership

In Asia, we received recognition as Asia's Best Insurance Provider for Wealth Management at the 2026 Euromoney Private Banking Awards, a leading benchmark in the private banking and wealth management industry. This acknowledgement reflects our strong growth momentum, innovative product suite for high-net-worth ("HNW") customer segments, value-added service, international capabilities, and trusted relationships with our distribution partners across all HNW channels.

In Global WAM, we completed the acquisition of PT Schroder Investment Management Indonesia ("Schroders Indonesia") with $3.5 billion of assets under management ("AUM") as of March 31, 2026. The acquisition strengthens our position as the largest asset manager in Indonesia⁹ and enables us to deliver enhanced value to our clients and stakeholders by leveraging the firm's local expertise and client relationships.

In addition, we entered into a strategic partnership with L&G⁶ to enhance our distribution, investment management, and product development capabilities. The partnership is intended to combine our global asset management expertise and distribution platform with L&G's strengths as a global asset manager and distribution capabilities, especially across Europe, bringing together complementary capabilities to expand access to differentiated investment solutions across institutional, retirement, and retail channels.

In the U.S., we further differentiated our product portfolio through enhancements to our indexed and hybrid indexed universal life offerings, better positioning us to address evolving income-protection and wealth-accumulation needs and supporting our growth strategy. Furthermore, we reinforced our industry-leading large-case underwriting capabilities by increasing auto-bind limits through reinsurer support, simplifying underwriting and reducing friction for complex submissions.

We are deploying AI globally to enhance distributor experience, drive efficiency, and deliver value

We accelerated our momentum across our enterprise AI platform, establishing production‑ready environments and enabling initial scalable use cases, while leveraging new strategic partnerships with Akka¹⁰ and Adaptive ML¹¹. In addition, our developers across the organization continued to adopt assisted and autonomous AI capabilities, increasing their productivity by 30% while enabling reinvestment to support business growth and develop new capabilities to serve our customers. Together, we expect these advancements will enhance our ability to deploy AI at scale with speed, consistency, and in alignment with our Responsible AI Principles.

Building on the roll out of agent and advisor AI tools in a number of our Asia markets in 2025, we launched our distributor AI tool in Vietnam to support faster access to product information, premium calculations and simplified illustrations for customers. In Japan, we also enhanced our AI tool to provide a unified, always-available entry point to information about our independent agents, including their affiliations, branch details, and product license eligibility, enabling us to provide better and faster support to these agents.

In Global WAM, we introduced an AI‑powered sales platform in U.S. Retail to better integrate data, enabling more personalized advisor conversations and smarter sales deployment. This platform allows sales teams to prioritize the most promising opportunities, driving an approximately 40% increase in meaningful advisor interactions and supporting higher flows.

In the U.S., we continued to realize benefits from scaling GenAI investments in underwriting through the expansion of our Quick Quote support tool, enabling us to automate nearly half of preliminary assessments, which accelerated average turnaround time from days to minutes and enabled underwriters to focus on more complex cases.

In Canada, we enhanced online claims processing for our Affinity health & dental business through AI-driven document processing for the majority of manually processed claims, which improved processing speed and accelerated payments to customers.

We are advancing our health, wealth and longevity strategy while establishing new strategic partnerships 

In Asia, we established an exclusive partnership with Guardant Health to offer the Shield™ Multi‑Cancer Detection test ("Shield MCD test")¹² to eligible customers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines. The collaboration makes us the first insurer in Asia to offer the Shield MCD test, broadening access to early cancer detection and advancing our commitment to improving customer health outcomes and longevity.

In Canada, we partnered with Osara Health^®, a global provider of evidence-based cancer support programs to pilot the Cancer Coach™ program and offer eligible Group Benefits members structured and personalized support for navigating the daily challenges that accompany a cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

We also advanced Manulife's commitment to longevity through a partnership with the National Institute on Ageing, supporting the release of the Ageing in Canada Survey, one of Canada's most comprehensive annual snapshots of aging, and building on our commitment to health, wealth and financial wellbeing.

In the U.S., we launched John Hancock Vitality PRO, a distributor-facing engagement platform designed to support the promotion of John Hancock Vitality and to enhance producer loyalty. Early adoption continues to build, reinforcing engagement in John Hancock Vitality and our mission to help customers live longer, healthier, better lives.

Continued business growth drove core earnings higher¹³

Core earnings of $1.8 billion in 1Q26, up 8% from 1Q25

The increase in core earnings reflected strong business growth in Asia and Global WAM, the net positive impact of 2025 updates to actuarial methods and assumptions, and a net improvement in insurance experience, partially offset by lower investment spreads in the U.S. and the impact of the eMPF transition in Hong Kong.

• Asia core earnings increased 22%, reflecting continued business growth and the net positive impact of 2025 updates to actuarial methods and assumptions, partially offset by less favourable insurance experience.

• Global WAM core earnings increased 2%, driven by higher net fee income from favourable market impacts over the past 12 months, contribution from the Manulife | Comvest business, and continued expense discipline, partially offset by the impact of the eMPF transition in Hong Kong and lower performance fees.

• Canada core earnings decreased 6%, reflecting unfavourable insurance experience in Group Insurance in 1Q26, compared with favourable experience in 1Q25. The variance in insurance experience was largely driven by higher long-term disability claims, along with higher expenses to support the growing business and transformational investment to elevate customer experience in Group Insurance. This was partially offset by business growth in the segment, the net positive impact of 2025 updates to actuarial methods and assumptions, and a lower charge in the expected credit loss provision.

• U.S. core earnings decreased 4%, primarily driven by lower investment spreads, partially offset by favourable net insurance experience in 1Q26 compared with unfavourable experience in 1Q25.

• Corporate and Other core earnings improved by $12 million, reflecting the non-recurrence of the 1Q25 provision for the California wildfires in our P&C reinsurance business, partially offset by lower investment income and higher expenses from continued strategic investments in transformational efforts, including AI-focused initiatives.

Net Income attributed to shareholders of $1.1 billion in 1Q26, $0.7 billion higher compared with 1Q25

The $0.7 billion increase in net income was primarily driven by a smaller net charge related to market experience and core earnings growth. The net charge from market experience in 1Q26 reflected lower-than-expected returns on public equity and lower-than-expected returns on alternative long-duration assets, mainly related to real estate, timber, and private equity investments. The market experience in 1Q25 included a $0.7 billion realized loss related to the RGA U.S. Reinsurance Transaction from the sale of debt instruments, which was offset by an associated change in Other Comprehensive Income with a net neutral impact to book value.¹⁴

Insurance new business growth momentum continued, with a double-digit increase in new business CSM across all segments

APE sales, new business CSM and NBV increased 7%, 16%, and 7%, respectively, reflecting the strength of our diversified business portfolio

• Asia delivered strong growth in APE sales, new business CSM and NBV, with a year-over-year increase of 11%, 15% and 15%, respectively, driven by higher sales volumes and a more favourable business mix, reflecting growth in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore across all three new business metrics. NBV margin improved modestly to 38.2%.⁵

• Canada APE sales and NBV decreased 15% and 16%, respectively, driven by lower Group Insurance sales, partially offset by higher Individual Insurance sales. New business CSM increased 13%, reflecting the growth in Individual Insurance from higher participating life insurance sales.

• In the U.S., APE sales and new business CSM increased 29% and 19%, respectively, reflecting increased demand for our accumulation insurance products supported by recent product enhancements. NBV decreased 8%, primarily driven by product mix, partially offset by higher sales volumes.

Global WAM net outflows of $4.4 billion in 1Q26, compared with net inflows of $0.5 billion in 1Q25

• Retirement net outflows were $2.8 billion in 1Q26 compared with net outflows of $2.6 billion in 1Q25, driven by higher member withdrawals reflecting higher account balances from market growth and higher retirement plan redemptions in the U.S., partially offset by lower retirement plan redemptions in Canada.

• Retail net outflows were $5.8 billion in 1Q26 compared with net inflows of $0.5 billion in 1Q25, primarily driven by higher net outflows in active mutual funds through third-party intermediaries in North America, including a few large model redemptions in the U.S.

• Institutional Asset Management net inflows were $4.2 billion in 1Q26 compared with net inflows of $2.6 billion in 1Q25, driven by net flows from the Manulife | Comvest business, and higher net sales from money market mandates in mainland China and from Manulife | CQS products, partially offset by lower net flows in equity mandates and lower deployments in private equity mandates.

New business growth continued to drive higher organic CSM and CSM balance

CSM¹⁵ was $25,589 million as at March 31, 2026

CSM increased $620 million compared with December 31, 2025. Organic CSM movement contributed $650 million of the increase, representing an 11% annualized growth in our CSM net of NCI balance¹⁶, primarily driven by the impact of new business, interest accretion and net favourable insurance experience, partially offset by amortization recognized in core earnings. Inorganic CSM movement was a decrease of $30 million, primarily driven by the unfavourable impacts of equity market performance and interest rate movements, partially offset by the impacts of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Post-tax CSM net of NCI¹ was $21,255 million as at March 31, 2026.

Earnings Results Conference Call

Manulife will host a conference call and live webcast on its First Quarter 2026 results on May 14, 2026, at 8:00 a.m. (ET). To access the conference call, dial 1-888-317-6003 or 1-647-846-2809 (Passcode: 7290517#). Please call in 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. You will be required to provide your name and organization to the operator. You may access the webcast at https://www.manulife.com/en/investors/results-and-reports. 

The archived webcast will be available following the call at the same URL as above. A replay of the call will also be available until August 14, 2026, by dialing 1-855-669-9658 or 1-412-317-0088 (Passcode: 1809675#).

The First Quarter 2026 Statistical Information Package is also available on the Manulife website at https://www.manulife.com/en/investors/results-and-reports. 

This earnings news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's First Quarter 2026 Report to Shareholders, including our unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements for the three months ended March 31, 2026, prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, which is available on our website at https://www.manulife.com/en/investors/results-and-reports. The Company's 1Q26 MD&A and additional information relating to the Company is available on the SEDAR+ website at https://www.sedarplus.ca and on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") website at https://www.sec.gov. 

Any information contained in, or otherwise accessible through, websites mentioned in this news release does not form a part of this document unless it is expressly incorporated by reference.

Earnings

The following table presents net income attributed to shareholders, consisting of core earnings and details of the items excluded from core earnings:

Non-GAAP and other financial measures

The Company prepares its Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. We use a number of non-GAAP and other financial measures to evaluate overall performance and to assess each of our businesses. This section includes information required by National Instrument 52-112 – Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures Disclosure in respect of "specified financial measures" (as defined therein).

Non-GAAP financial measures include core earnings (loss); core earnings available to common shareholders; core earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("core EBITDA"); core expenses; adjusted book value; post-tax contractual service margin; post-tax contractual service margin net of NCI ("post-tax CSM net of NCI"); CSM net of NCI; assets under management ("AUM"); and core revenue. In addition, non-GAAP financial measures include the following stated on a constant exchange rate ("CER") basis: any of the foregoing non-GAAP financial measures; net income attributed to shareholders; and common shareholders' net income.

Non-GAAP ratios include core return on common shareholders' equity ("core ROE"); diluted core earnings per common share ("core EPS"); expense efficiency ratio; adjusted book value per common share; financial leverage ratio; core EBITDA margin; growth in the CSM net of NCI from organic CSM movement; and percentage growth/decline on a constant exchange rate basis in any of the above non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios; net income attributed to shareholders; diluted earnings per common share ("EPS"), CSM, and new business CSM.

Other specified financial measures include NBV; APE sales; gross flows; net flows; average assets under management and administration ("average AUMA"); NBV margin; and percentage growth/decline in these foregoing specified financial measures. In addition, explanations of the components of the CSM movement, other than  new business CSM are provided in our 1Q26 MD&A.

Non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios are not standardized financial measures under GAAP and, therefore, might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers. Therefore, they should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for any other financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. For more information on non-GAAP financial measures, including those referred to above, see the section "Non-GAAP and other financial measures" in our 1Q26 MD&A, which is incorporated by reference.

Reconciliation of core earnings to net income attributed to shareholders – 1Q26

($ millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Core earnings, CER basis and U.S. dollars – 1Q26

($ millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Reconciliation of core earnings to net income attributed to shareholders – 4Q25

($ millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Core earnings, CER basis and U.S. dollars – 4Q25

($ millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Reconciliation of core earnings to net income attributed to shareholders – 1Q25

($ millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Core earnings, CER basis and U.S. dollars – 1Q25

($ millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Core earnings available to common shareholders

($ millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Core ROE

($ millions, unless otherwise stated)

CSM and post-tax CSM information

($ millions pre-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

New business CSM⁽¹⁾ detail, CER basis

($ millions pre-tax, and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Net income financial measures on a CER basis

($ Canadian millions, post-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Adjusted book value

($ millions)

Reconciliation of Global WAM core earnings to core EBITDA

($ millions, pre-tax and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

Core EBITDA margin and core revenue

($ millions, unless otherwise stated)

Core expenses

($ millions, and based on actual foreign exchange rates in effect in the applicable reporting period, unless otherwise stated)

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

From time to time, Manulife makes written and/or oral forward-looking statements, including in this document. In addition, our representatives may make forward-looking statements orally to analysts, investors, the media and others. All such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

The forward-looking statements in this document include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to our ability to achieve our medium-term financial and operating targets, the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of Schroders Indonesia and the partnership between Global WAM and L&G, the expected benefits and value derived from the use of AI and also relate to, among other things, our objectives, goals, strategies, intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations and estimates, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "could", "should", "would", "likely", "suspect", "outlook", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "forecast", "objective", "seek", "aim", "continue", "goal", "restore", "embark" and "endeavour" (or the negative thereof) and words and expressions of similar import, and include statements concerning possible or assumed future results. 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 and they should not be interpreted as confirming market or analysts' expectations in any way.

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 (including but not limited to the performance, volatility and correlation of equity markets, interest rates, credit and swap spreads, inflation rates, currency rates, investment losses and defaults, market liquidity and creditworthiness of guarantors, reinsurers and counterparties); changes in laws and regulations; changes in accounting standards applicable in any of the territories in which we operate; changes in regulatory capital requirements; our ability to obtain premium rate increases on in-force policies; our ability to execute strategic plans and changes to strategic plans; downgrades in our financial strength or credit ratings; our ability to maintain our reputation; impairments of goodwill or intangible assets or the establishment of provisions against future tax assets; the accuracy of estimates relating to morbidity, mortality and policyholder behaviour; the accuracy of other estimates used in applying accounting policies and actuarial methods and embedded value methods; our ability to implement effective hedging strategies and unforeseen consequences arising from such strategies; our ability to source appropriate assets to back our long-dated liabilities; level of competition and consolidation; our ability to market and distribute products through current and future distribution channels; unforeseen liabilities or asset impairments arising from acquisitions and dispositions of businesses; the realization of losses arising from the sale of investments classified fair value through other comprehensive income; our liquidity, including the availability of financing to satisfy existing financial liabilities on expected maturity dates when required; obligations to pledge additional collateral; the availability of letters of credit to provide capital management flexibility; accuracy of information received from counterparties and the ability of counterparties to meet their obligations; the availability, affordability and adequacy of reinsurance; legal and regulatory proceedings, including tax audits, tax litigation or similar proceedings; our ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; our ability to attract and retain key executives, employees and agents; the appropriate use and interpretation of complex models or deficiencies in models used; political, legal, operational and other risks associated with our operations; geopolitical uncertainty, including international conflicts and trade disputes; acquisitions and our ability to complete acquisitions including the availability of equity and debt financing for this purpose; the disruption of or changes to key elements of the Company's or public infrastructure systems; environmental concerns, including climate change; our ability to protect our intellectual property and exposure to claims of infringement; our ability to execute our digital plans and to deploy future digital use cases, including with respect to AI, the anticipated benefits from the Schroders Indonesia acquisition and the partnership between Global WAM and L&G, and our inability to withdraw cash from subsidiaries.

Additional information about material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements may be found under "Risk Management and Risk Factors" and "Critical Actuarial and Accounting Policies" in the Management's Discussion and Analysis in our most recent annual report, under "Risk Management and Risk Factors Update" and "Critical Actuarial and Accounting Policies" in the Management's Discussion and Analysis in our most recent interim report, and in the "Risk Management" note to the Consolidated Financial Statements in our most recent annual and interim reports, as well as 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 and are presented for the purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding our financial position and results of operations, our future operations, as well as our objectives and strategic priorities, and may not be appropriate for other purposes. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.  

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/manulife-reports-first-quarter-2026-results-302771277.html

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2026/13/c9598.html