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Manulife relocates senior executive to Hong Kong, as Canada’s biggest insurer joins peers using city as base for Asia expansion
- Manulife has appointed chief financial officer Phil Witherington as president and CEO of Manulife Asia, effective from July 1
- The move follows calls from Hong Kong’s government for more international companies to use the city as a hub to expand their regional businesses
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Canada’s biggest insurance company is relocating one of its senior executives to Hong Kong, joining a raft of its peers who are planning to use the city as a base from which to expand in Asia.
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Manulife said on Friday it has appointed chief financial officer Phil Witherington as president and CEO of Manulife Asia, effective from July 1. He will replace Damien Green, who will help push the insurer’s regional strategy in his new role as chair of Manulife Financial Asia.
The move follows calls from Hong Kong’s government for more international companies to use the city as a hub to expand their regional businesses.
Manulife joins rivals such as Britain’s Prudential and the US insurer Cigna in increasing their Hong Kong presence recently.
The city’s Chief Executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, said in December that the government would introduce more policies to attract international insurers wishing to use Hong Kong as a hub to expand in Asia.
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“We have articulated the goal for Asia to represent 50 per cent of our company’s earnings in the medium term, from about 40 per cent now,” said Roy Gori, president and CEO of Manulife, in an online interview.
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