Manulife Canada eyes mass market insurance growth: CEO

Manulife is ramping up its mass-market life and health insurance business, a segment the carrier’s Canadian CEO says has lagged its high-net-worth line. Work is under way to grow its retail distribution channels and expand advisor capacity.

“We see an opportunity in the mass market,” said Naveed Irshad, president and CEO of Manulife Canada. “We want to be there for everyone; in all channels and for all Canadians.”

To effectively serve the mass market and underinsured Canadians, Manulife will have to add salesforce capacity, Irshad said.

The carrier uses different distribution channels to reach a mass-market clientele than it does for its high-net-worth segment, including multi-level marketing (MLM) companies like World Financial Group (WFG), Irshad said.

MLM distribution channels help Manulife reach a broader segment of middle-income Canadians with health, dental, travel and life insurance, Irshad added. Mass-market products are simpler, making them quicker to sell than policies for high-net-worth cases.

Regulators have repeatedly found high levels of non-compliance with WFG’s agents. But Manulife has “consistent standards across distribution relationships” across all its sales channels guided by “long-standing risk management practices.” Irshad said. The carrier regularly reviews its distribution partners for alignment with these expectations.

In addition to diversifying distribution, Manulife is bringing new blood into the industry by growing Manulife Wealth Insurance Services Inc., a dealer and MGA. Manulife also has a licensed sales team with agents in salaried positions, Irshad continued. Salaries provide a stabler entry point for agents in their early career where new agents can have their start with support from a large organization., Irshad continued. Salaries provide a stabler entry point for agents in their early career where new agents can have their start with support from a large organization.

“You can learn about the business with less upside, but also less risk,” he added.

These agents sell more straightforward products like individual health, dental and travel protection.

Manulife is also trying to attract talent by providing more AI-powered tools for advisors. Earlier this year, the carrier claimed its updated questionnaire for an underwriting AI doubled its life insurance instant approval rate for lower-risk business.

Capabilities like this help agents serve clients faster and provide clarity on policy acceptance sooner, Irshad said. Online sales will be crucial to reach the mass market, but prospects don’t always complete their purchase online. Part of the salaried sales team’s job is converting leads coming from online direct-to-consumer channels as online-offline hybrid sales, he said.

He predicts that hybrid sales will take off in the mass market before fully online sales do. “We’ve been talking about the direct-to-consumer business for a long time, [but] it’s still a very small portion of the market.”

Hybrid sales isn’t as easy as it sounds. Irshad said that none of the carriers have worked out an effective way to close hybrid sales.

“As soon as somebody cracks that nut, we’ll jump on it right away.”