Manulife Investment Management has announced that Grace Ho, Chief Marketing Officer, Asia, is appointed Head of Direct Digital Business and Portfolios, Asia.
This is a newly created role which reflects the firm’s commitment to expanding its digitally-enabled distribution capability.
Michael Dommermuth, Head of Wealth and Asset Management, Asia, Manulife Investment Management, commented: “As we continue to invest in digitalization, we see the need to revolutionize our structure and create a mission control that brings together strategic management of business propositions, portfolios of digital offerings, and alignment with technology across different markets in Asia. Our focus needs to be razor-sharp, emphasizing prioritization and a delivery road map against the highest valued business opportunities.”
In her new role, Grace will have business accountability for the direct digital business, and be responsible for integrating digital offerings such as Manulife iFUNDS and post log-in website experience into the firm’s digital ecosystems across investment and pension platforms, with the objective of creating persistent business returns.
Grace will also become the product owner of Manulife iFUNDS.
“COVID-19 has changed the way our industry distributes wealth solutions, and we have the disruptive solution in Manulife iFUNDS to match the challenges. Our job is to fully leverage and build on Manulife iFUNDS, bringing a total wealth solution to our different markets in Asia,” said Grace Ho, Head of Direct Digital Business and Portfolios, Asia, Manulife Investment Management.
“Alongside our customer experience focus, Manulife Investment Management’s digital strategy has always pivoted on unleashing the power of digitally-enabled advisors for both investment and retirement customers. Digital solutions play a vital role in equipping our advisors with investment and market insights for the delivery of quality customer experience the way our customers want it,” Grace further explained.
Manulife iFUNDS has been launched in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam since 2019. It enables both the customers and Manulife advisors in different ways. Customers can plan and make fund transactions on the Manulife iFUNDS platform, and advisors can have access to customers’ portfolio information for them to provide timely service virtually yet with human touch.
“Currently, Manulife iFUNDS is deployed to serve more than 100,000 customer accounts and over 3,000 Manulife advisors across Asia. Adoption across markets has been encouraging. More than 70% of our accounts in Hong Kong are using Manulife iFUNDS, and in Malaysia, over 70% of our total transactions are handled through this digital solution since its launch in October 2020,” added Grace. “We are introducing Manulife iFUNDS to the Singapore market to digitally enable advisors to provide better service to our investment-linked plan customers. Across the markets where Manulife iFUNDS is available, our target is to achieve 100% customer adoption in three years.”
“Under the pandemic, we have organized 75 regional webinars and virtual conferences in 2020 alone for our distribution channels and end investors, recording over 53,000 views. Social media was also leveraged for dissemination of market and investment insights, either directly reaching customers or allowing for advisors to engage their customers, with over 400 posts published and 22 million views garnered,” Grace added.
Recruitment for the role of Chief Marketing Officer, Asia, is underway and Grace will stay on the role until the replacement is onboard.
Arya has been a part of the Content & Research Team at Hrnxt.com. She is a keen observer of economic developments, emerging businesses, people in business and keeps a tab on latest happenings in the business environment.