Insurance

Manulife launches new learning platform for its insurance advisors across Asia

Manulife has launched ManuAcademy, a new learning platform for its 60,000 insurance advisors in Vietnam and will soon launch the platform in four other markets in Asia.

Accessible via a mobile app and website, the latest digital tool makes learning easier, while accelerating the further expansion and digitization of Manulife's agency force, Manulife said in a press release.

ManuAcademy—a mobile-first learning management system—supports the development of an advisor's career at all stages, from onboarding to learning to match the best insurance solutions to meet a customer's heath, retirement, and protection needs.

"Being customer-centric means that we are agency-centric," said Pankaj Banerjee, Chief Distribution Officer, Manulife Asia, and interim CEO, Manulife Hong Kong. "We have launched ManuAcademy as part of our strategic focus to intensify our ambition in Asia and grow and digitize our agency force—a bedrock for our business and for our customers."

The new learning platform is underpinned by AI, intelligently delivering tailored information to different advisors wherever they are. It also uses gameplay and rewards to motivate consistent participation and long-term engagement. To support video and social learning, advisors can join small private communities on ManuAcademy to ask questions and get instant feedback, as they learn how to better assess customer needs and help make their lives better every day.

"Accelerating the growth of a thriving, digitally-enabled agency force in Asia starts with quality recruitment, then development," said See Sen Mak, Chief Agency Officer, Manulife Asia. "With ManuAcademy, we are supercharging our engagement with agents by putting the right tools, trainings, and technology in their hands to better serve our customers."

ManuAcademy is now available to more than 60,000 insurance advisors in Vietnam. Plans to roll out the platform are underway in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, which will support the learning and development journeys of over 88,000 advisors in those markets.

In 2021, Manulife increased its agency force to more than 119,000. Of the total agency count, 71% are women. The number of Manulife agents who are Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) members has also grown from around 3,600 in 2019 to more than 6,000 agents in 2021.