Manulife has launched a region-wide training academy for its growing 115,000 insurance advisors in Asia. The initiative, known as Manulife Business Academy (MBA), is a unified learning and development platform that equips advisors with skills to succeed in digital environments while helping them make customers’ lives every day better.

MBA consolidates learning activities from across the markets in Asia where Manulife operates. The facility provides recruits with the training and support needed to become top insurance advisors in their markets through online learning and end-to-end career development journeys, rather than relying on one-off classroom training sessions.

“The establishment of Manulife Business Academy demonstrates our continuing commitment to digitize, grow and develop our agency force, which is a backbone of our Asia franchise,” said Anil Wadhwani, President and CEO, Manulife Asia. “Our highly professional agents, advisors, and world-class bank partners have been key in engaging our customers and offering them the right insurance solutions to make them every day better.”

In addition to providing best-in-class financial advisory training, MBA also facilitates the sharing of best practices and conducts practical workshops for both advisors and bancassurance partners, further strengthening insurer-bank relationships across the region.

To date, Manulife has 10 exclusive bank partners in Asia that provide access to over 30 million customers. In 2020, Manulife increased its agency force in Asia by a record 21% to over 115,000 agents. The number of Manulife agents who are Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) members have also grown to around 3,600 in 2019 and is expected to increase significantly in 2021.

“We are extremely pleased to see the tremendous, high-quality growth in our agency force across Asia. While Covid-19 has challenged all of us, we are also seeing people in our markets stepping into the life insurance industry, with many keen to join Manulife,” said Vibha Coburn, CEO, Manulife Insurance Berhad, and former Chief Distribution Officer, Manulife Asia.

“Digitising and growing our agency force, including providing the right training and technology for our advisors ultimately helps serve our customers better,” added Coburn. “From experience, we know that more advisors on the ground benefit customers, as they provide more in-depth conversations and professional advice to address our customers’ health, protection, and retirement needs.