Manulife picks its chief actuary Steve Finch as Asia CEO to lead its biggest profit centre

Canada’s biggest insurer Manulife Financial has appointed its chief actuary Steve Finch to head its Asian business, picking a company veteran to take charge of a region that is projected to become the group’s single most profitable market.

Finch will bring more than three decades of industry experience to his new role as president and CEO of Asia when he takes over from Phil Witherington on May 9 in Hong Kong, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Witherington will return to Toronto to replace Roy Gori as global CEO, according to a November announcement.

“I am incredibly excited about this opportunity to lead the Asia segment,” Finch said in a phone interview with the Post. “The growth opportunities here are tremendous, given the status of Hong Kong as a regional financial services hub.”

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Finch marked his third decade at Manulife in 2022. Before his current role as chief actuary, he served as the chief financial officer of Manulife’s US unit John Hancock, and general manager of US Life. He started visiting Asia in 2016, making about five trips annually.

Chief actuary Steve Finch will take over as Manulife’s Asia CEO from May 9, 2025. Photo: Handout alt=Chief actuary Steve Finch will take over as Manulife’s Asia CEO from May 9, 2025. Photo: Handout>

“My wife and I are really excited about making the move here,” said Finch, who has been in Hong Kong since January. “We came to love Hong Kong very quickly. We were finding some of the good restaurants around the city, and we are really excited about making the move here permanently.”

Manulife’s core earnings rose 8 per cent last year to C$7.23 billion (US$5 billion). Asia contributed 44 per cent to the group profit, a higher proportion than the 37 per cent in 2023. The insurer was on track to beat its target of deriving 50 per cent of its earnings from Asia by 2027, Witherington said on Tuesday, reiterating his assessment in November.

Hong Kong, the insurer’s headquarters in the region, is its single largest profit generator as the return of mainland Chinese visitors, both as tourists and talent migrants, helped boost new sales in the city. Mainland Chinese spent HK$46.6 billion on life and health policies from January to September last year, according to the Insurance Authority, or 30 per cent of industry-wide sales.

Some 44.5 million travellers visited Hong Kong last year, an increase of 31 per cent from a year earlier as post-pandemic cross-border travel rebounded further, according to data published by the Tourism Board. Mainland Chinese made up 77 per cent of the arrivals in the city.

“We have bold ambitions for Asia,” said Gori, who will stay on as an adviser to the insurer for three months when he retires in May, in what company executives described as a “seamless transition” of roles.

Finch’s “strong knowledge of our products and distribution channels across Asia, and passion for leading teams will help accelerate our growth agenda for this critical part of our business”, Gori added.

Manulife’s other key markets in the Asia-Pacific region – China, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia – also reported strong sales following the launch of innovative products, customer apps and investment in call-centre technology.

“There are many emerging new customer segments across Asia, including the growing high-net-worth customer segment, the continued growth of the mainland Chinese visitor customer segment to Hong Kong, as well as the growing Islamic customer segments across the region, notably in Indonesia and Malaysia,” Witherington said.

Finch and Witherington, along with over 200 top executives of Manulife, gathered in Shenzhen two weeks ago to map out its strategies and show the group’s commitment to the Greater Bay Area.

New growth segments are high-net-worth individuals, mainland Chinese policy buyers and the Islamic insurance market, especially for large Muslim populations in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The insurer would invest more in digital, deploying generative artificial intelligence to provide tools to its agents to enhance their productivity in providing life, health, wealth and retirement coverage across the region, Witherington said.

“Hong Kong and Asia are such important markets for us globally, so you will continue to see me in Hong Kong in the future,” he added.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.