How Manulife Is Using AI to Cut Advisor Prep Time — and Close More Deals

Financial advisors spend a significant portion of their day on research and compliance tasks that have nothing to do with advising clients. Manulife Wealth & Asset Management is changing that with three AI-powered tools that are already delivering measurable results.

The tools cover three distinct business functions: compliance queries in Canada, advisor outreach in the U.S. retirement market, and meeting preparation for U.S. retail sales teams.

What the Numbers Show

Early performance data from Manulife's internal systems is striking:

• Canadian compliance tool: Nearly 980 users and more than 5,400 conversations logged since launch — 42% of advisors report saving up to 15 minutes per inquiry, and 29% save between 15 and 30 minutes
• John Hancock Retirement outreach tool: Generated nearly 2,000 opportunities, approximately 390 closed deals, and cut pre-meeting research time by 80% while increasing lead recommendations fivefold since March 2025
• John Hancock Investments retail tool: Connected CRM and business intelligence data in plain language, contributing to a 40% increase in the internal sales team's contact rate

A Broader AI Strategy in Motion

These tools are part of a wider organizational shift. Manulife's parent company reports that more than 70% of its global workforce now uses generative AI tools, including its proprietary ChatMFC platform. The company was also ranked first among life insurers in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Insurance in 2025.

The results show what focused, function-specific AI deployment can do — not AI as a general-purpose shortcut, but as a precision tool matched to specific workflow bottlenecks.

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