Manulife Asia announced recently that it has signed a three-year Exclusive Premier Sponsorship agreement with the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), a global, independent association of the world’s leading insurance and financial services professionals from 85 nations and territories and more than 700 companies.
The program, which started earlier this year, is a strategic initiative to drive high quality, sustainable growth for Manulife’s agency force by better providing agents with essential tools and knowledge to advance their skills and careers in the life insurance and financial services industry. Recognized globally as the standard of excellence, MDRT’s collaboration with Manulife, which ranked third worldwide in MDRT members in 2023, solidifies Manulife’s leadership in the industry and inspires its professionals to expand their expertise as the insurance sector evolves.
“The signing of Manulife’s Premier sponsorship deal with MDRT represents a tremendous opportunity for our company to grow and advance by further professionalizing our strong agency force. This renewed sponsorship underlines our continuous dedication to developing our team and upholding the outstanding quality of our agency force. Our professional agents are crucial to maintaining trusted relationships with our customers and they make a positive difference in the lives of the communities that we serve across the region,” said Rishi Srivastava, Chief Agency Officer, Manulife Asia.
This three-year MDRT sponsorship program supports career advancement for top agents at all Manulife markets at all stages, from newcomers to future leaders, ensuring that Manulife’s customers receive quality advice and comprehensive services from well-trained and motivated professionals.
This initiative encompasses a range of tailored development programs, including Academy Train the Trainer year-round support, in-person workshops supporting both agency leaders and MDRTs by MDRT expert speakers, and other valuable learning content and online courses, all aimed at enhancing the skills and knowledge of Manulife’s agency force to better serve their customers in the region.
In the Philippines, Manulife has been taking steps to support and equip their agency force with the recent launch of LEAP (League of Extraordinary Advisors Program). LEAP is an initiative aimed at providing financial advisors with learning, coaching and mentorship opportunities to become MDRT members and leaders. The courses cover local and global best practices, top sales ideas, as well as MDRT tools, and include mentoring sessions and performance coaching. Additionally, Manulife Philippines has rolled out an industry-first program, which provides special career progression to financial advisors who achieve Top of the Table (TOT) and Court of the Table (COT) honors.
“Achieving our mission to make decisions easier and lives better for customers means strengthening our agency force by investing in their learning and development. At Manulife Philippines, we are committed to setting up our financial advisors for success, so they can better serve our customers while also empowering them to acquire best practices from fellow advisors and agency leaders, grow their careers, and achieve their life goals and aspirations,” said Sailesh Nalinakshan, Chief Agency Officer, Manulife Philippines.
The MDRT sponsorship is in alignment and complementary to Manulife’s strategy in accelerating Asia growth and enhancing the quality of agency force. To attract and nurture top talent in the financial services industry, Manulife continues to roll out Manulife Pro, a proprietary recognition and activation program for top-tier agents across Asia. Together, the MDRT engagement and the Manulife Pro program will help create a best-in-class professional, customer-centric agency force that supports Manulife’s goal of becoming a leader in the Asian market.
Mr. Srivastava further commented, “As Manulife continues to prioritize customer needs and enhance customer experience by leveraging advanced data and analytics, our dedicated agency force is key to delivering high-quality, holistic solutions to meet their needs in this world. By investing in comprehensive, training for our agents, we empower them to drive our transformation into a leading digital, customer-focused market leader and the best long-term partner for our customers.”
