2005 News Releases

Olympic sponsor opens in fourth Guangdong city

Zhongshan, China– Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Canadian-based Manulife Financial, the world’s fourth largest life insurance company, officially opened its operations today in the city of Zhongshan, Guangdong Province – the eighth city in China and the fourth city in Guangdong Province after Guangzhou, Dongguan and Foshan in which Manulife-Sinochem currently operates.

“We have made tremendous progress on our national expansion strategy in 2005 thanks to the strong support of the Chinese government over the years,” said Marc Sterling, Chairman, Manulife-Sinochem. “This year alone we have opened in five cities with still a sixth branch office opening slated for December in the city of Nanjing. To date, we are extremely pleased with the progress of all of our operations and anticipate much success in Zhongshan.”

“With its strong growth of annual premiums and its low penetration rates, the Zhongshan life insurance market is a very favourable environment for Manulife-Sinochem,” added Mr. Sterling. “We anticipate contributing to the growth of Zhongshan’s booming economy – offering customers our newly-expanded portfolio of premium products and services and offering rewarding career opportunities to talented, local people.”

“With an aggressive growth strategy in place, we will be building on our local team of skilled professionals we have already hired in Zhongshan, providing highly-focused career options across all areas of our business to many more qualified applicants,” said Quynh La, General Manager, Manulife-Sinochem, Guangzhou Branch. “Recognized in March, for the second year in a row, as Shanghai’s “Most Trustworthy Company” in the insurance sector, this is a testament to the company’s well-earned success and a tribute to the professionalism of our people.”

Experiencing geographical and product line growth
As one of the first foreign joint-ventures to enter Guangzhou in 2002, Manulife-Sinochem at the start of this year received approval by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to extend its Guangzhou operational license to province-wide status, excluding Shenzhen. Since this time, CIRC has approved Manulife-Sinochem’s license for Shenzhen where the company plans to be operational in early 2006. The Foshan and Dongguan offices were opened in June 2005.

In July 2005, Manulife-Sinochem announced it had begun servicing small-to-medium sized companies with group insurance in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing and Ningbo. “We have built a well-trained experienced team for our new group insurance business. We plan to be in a position to offer our group insurance products to employers in Zhongshan in the very near future,” added Mr. La.

About Manulife-Sinochem
Manulife-Sinochem is a joint venture company between Manulife (International) Limited (51 per cent) and China Foreign Economic and Trade Trust & Investment Company, a member of the Sinochem group (49 per cent). Today, Manulife-Sinochem’s 4,000-strong staff and agency force serve more than 220,000 customers across the six cities where it operates.

About Sinochem
China Foreign Economic and Trade Trust & Investment Company (FOTIC) is a core enterprise of Sinochem. Sinochem, founded in 1950, is one of the biggest foreign trading companies in China. Sinochem has been listed among the Fortune Global 500 companies for 15 consecutive years, ranking 270th in 2004. It was ranked fifth among China’s 500 largest companies in 2003. Sinochem can be found on the Internet at www.sinochem.com.

About Manulife Financial
Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily through John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$360 billion (US$310 billion) as at September 30, 2005.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '0945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

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