Manulife Appoints Michael Bell Chief Financial Officer And Provides Capital Update

TORONTO - Manulife Financial Corporation announced the appointment of Michael W. Bell as incoming Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer ("CFO"). His responsibilities will include management and oversight of the Company's global financial affairs, including Actuarial, Controllers, Taxation, Treasury, Investor Relations, Reinsurance as well as other company-wide financial functions. Mr. Bell will report directly to Manulife President and Chief Executive Officer Donald Guloien and it is expected he will join the Company on June 22 and take on his new duties in July.

Mr. Bell will succeed Peter Rubenovitch, who will be retiring from Manulife after 14 years of distinguished service. Donald Guloien said, "I would like to thank Peter for his outstanding commitment to Manulife's growth and development. He played a key role in our demutualization, our integration with John Hancock and he has also been instrumental in all of Manulife's capital markets activities." Mr. Rubenovitch has agreed to stay on for a period of time to assist with the transition, close out the second quarter and be a key resource on other strategic initiatives.

Guloien stated, "I am very pleased to welcome Michael as Manulife's incoming CFO. He is a seasoned international insurance executive with an outstanding track record as a financial leader, risk manager, business and team builder. His expertise, experience and energy will be a great asset to Manulife as we continue to build the strong, reliable and forward-looking Company our customers trust with their most important financial decisions." For the past six years Mr. Bell served as Executive Vice President and CFO at CIGNA Corporation, a Fortune 200 company, where he was responsible for all global financial operations including Finance, Accounting, Treasury, Tax, Investor Relations and Capital Planning, as well as the Company's investment functions, reinsurance and strategic planning. With his strong actuarial, financial and line management background, he built a widely respected Finance function at that Company. Prior to serving as CIGNA's CFO, he was President of their Group Insurance business where he strengthened the business and significantly expanded earnings.

Capital Update

Manulife's CFO transition is taking place during a period of solid
performance for the Company. Donald Guloien commented that, "If we were
reporting our quarter today, we would find our consolidated MCCSR levels
(Minimum Continuing Capital and Surplus Requirements of The Manufacturers Life
Insurance Company) to be near the highest levels in our history." Manulife has
enjoyed great benefit from strengthening equity markets but, at this time,
expects a significant portion of this could be offset by actuarial reserve
increases reflecting lower corporate bond rates, a more conservative
assessment of policyholder behaviour, lower investment returns and other
factors.
He added that, "While we have seen encouraging improvements in the equity
markets since March 31, our earnings and capital levels will continue to be
impacted by equity market and interest rate volatility, and we will remain
focused on fortifying capital. Given the financial turmoil of the past year,
we also anticipate regulators, rating agencies and the investing public will
expect higher levels of capital going forward. For example, while US Risk
Based Capital (RBC) norms were historically considered strong at the 300%
level, the trend appears to be that significantly higher levels are becoming
the new normal for the strongest companies."
One of Mr. Bell's first priorities will be to review and complete the
comprehensive capital plan Manulife has developed to ensure very strong levels
of capital in all of its operating businesses. Donald Guloien stated that,
"Building Manulife's capital strength, at both a consolidated and subsidiary
level, remains a continuing focus. At the same time, we want to avoid the
highly dilutive issuance of common equity. We will embark on a plan to
increase capital to fortress levels in order to be in a position to provide
the highest practical degree of security to policyholders, to withstand
continuing economic volatility and to be able to take advantage of strategic
opportunities."