Manulife breaks even ahead of schedule in China

Five years after establishing a life insurance license in Shanghai, the Canadian firm sees tremendous growth ahead. President and CEO Victor Apps outlines its success.
April 18, 2001
Manulife, the Canadian insurance company, says its five-year-old life insurance joint venture in Shanghai is expected to break even for the first time this year. Victor Apps, president and CEO at Manulife (International) in Hong Kong, says the rule of thumb for a business starting from scratch is to break even after seven years. The JV with Sinochem, a Chinese chemicals company, launched in November 1996, had originally been expected to record a profit in 2003.

Apps says business in Shanghai is booming thanks to a rapidly growing agency sales force and a profit-sharing life insurance product. For the fourth quarter of 2000, Manulife-Sinochem’s sales growth was 165% greater than the last quarter of 1999. Total premium income grew 73% last year, while the size of the agency force was doubled to 1950 people.

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