Manulife profit beats expectation on Asia, wealth management businesses strength
Rewrites paragraph 1 with estimates, adds details on wealth management results in paragraphs 4,7-11
Nov 6 (Reuters) -Manulife Financial MFC.TO posted a better-than-expectedthird-quarter profit on Wednesday, as the Canadian insurer benefited from a robust performance in its Asia and wealth management businesses.
Canada's leading life insurers have increasingly focused on expansion in Asia, a key market for their growth and global exposure.
Core earnings from Manulife's Asia business jumped 17% to C$453 million ($324.96 million) in the quarter compared to last year.
The strong performance in the Asia unit was driven by higher insurance sales in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore and Japan, Manulife said.
Manulife's annual premium equivalent (APE), an important sales metric used by life insurers, jumped 40% during the quarter, powered by a 64% jump in its Asia unit.
The results mirror those of smaller rivalSun Life SLF.TO, which also beat expectations for quarterly profit, thanks to strong insurance sales.
Manulife's wealth and asset management business was another bright spot, with core earnings from the unit jumping 37% to a record C$499 million.
The unit generated higher fee income, thanks to higher equity markets and strong net flows.
Manulife's wealth and asset management saw net inflows ofC$5.2 billion, compared to net outflows of C$0.8 billion a year earlier, driven by strong retail net flows.
The demand for investment products rose amid an equity market recovery, resulting in strong retail net flows, Manulife said.
The company's core earnings increased to C$1.83 billion, or C$1.00 per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, from C$1.74 billion, or 92 Canadian cents per share, a year ago.
Analysts, on average, had expected Manulife to earn 94 Canadian cents per share, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.
($1 = 1.3939 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi
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