Manulife keeps 28% MPF share as eMPF weighs on earnings

Manulife Financial (00945) reported its third-quarter results on 4 November. Core earnings for its Hong Kong and Macau operations rose 19% year on year to HK$2.8 billion, and as at the end of September the insurer held a 28.0% share of MPF assets under management — still the largest MPF provider in Hong Kong. But the results filing also flags “the impact of the eMPF transition in Hong Kong” as an offset: group wealth and asset management core earnings fell 5% year on year, the clearest sign yet of how the platform migration is showing up in the largest trustee’s numbers.

HK core earnings up 19% to HK$2.8bn; NBV up 14%

Manulife Hong Kong and Macau posted annualised premium equivalent (APE) sales of HK$6.1 billion in the third quarter, up 45%; new business value rose 14% to HK$2.3 billion; and new business contractual service margin (CSM) rose 32% to HK$2.2 billion. The company’s chief executive for Hong Kong and Macau said the quarter reflected sustained, steady business growth, pointing to a memorandum of understanding with Ant Health covering health management, cross-boundary medical support, digital health and insurtech, and two of its AI applications admitted to the regulator’s first “GenA.I. Sandbox++” cohort.

28.0% of MPF assets; Hong Kong new business CSM jumps

Manulife said it remains Hong Kong’s largest MPF provider, with MPF AUM market share of 28.0% as at the end of the third quarter of 2026. On the sales side, Hong Kong new business CSM rose to C$385 million from C$287 million a year earlier, with Japan up from C$76 million to C$104 million; the Asia division’s new business value margin was 35.3%. Mainland China CSM, however, fell from C$112 million to C$43 million, and Singapore slipped from C$182 million to C$155 million.

eMPF transition cited as group-level drag; wealth earnings down 5%

At group level, Manulife delivered record core earnings of C$2.1 billion, up 4% on a constant-exchange-rate basis, with core EPS up 6% to C$1.24 and core ROE at 17.8%. The company said the increase was partly offset by higher expected credit loss provisions and the impact of the eMPF transition in Hong Kong. Global wealth and asset management core earnings fell 5%: higher net fee income from favourable markets over the past 12 months, together with contributions from the Manulife | Comvest business, were “more than offset by the impact of the eMPF transition in Hong Kong”, higher workforce-related expenses and investment in business growth, favourable tax true-ups in the third quarter of 2025, and lower performance fees.

Wealth outflows narrow, but retirement redemptions climb

Global WAM recorded net outflows of C$3.6 billion in the quarter, narrower than the C$6.2 billion outflow a year earlier; retail wealth flows turned neutral from a C$3.9 billion outflow. Retirement net outflows widened to C$4.9 billion from C$1.6 billion, which the company attributed to higher retirement plan redemptions in the US, higher net member withdrawals as account balances rose with markets across all regions, and lower new plan sales in Canada.

Asia core earnings up 17%, but net income falls

Asia core earnings rose 17% to US$635 million, with strong sales in Hong Kong and Japan offsetting weaker results in the Chinese Mainland. Net income attributed to shareholders fell to C$1.4 billion from C$1.8 billion a year earlier, driven by a larger net charge on market experience and a net charge from the Vietnam operations. The LICAT ratio stood at 136%.