* Core earnings up by 14 percent in first quarter
* Asian sales up 14 percent to C$954 million
* DBS bancassurance deal helps drive growth
* Insurer eyes further partnerships in region
(Adds comments from CFO interview)
By Matt Scuffham
May 5 (Reuters) - Manulife MFC.TO , Canada's biggest life
insurer, said it would continue to look for new partners in Asia
after strong sales in the region helped it increase its core
earnings by 14 percent in the first quarter.
The activation of a bancassurance partnership with DBS in
Singapore and Hong Kong helped Manulife's Asian unit push total
insurance sales up by 14 percent to C$954 million, more than
making up for another quarter of lackluster investment gains.
"We're experiencing very strong growth in many Asian
markets. That was partly driven by our new bancassurance
distribution agreement with DBS. We've done a number of smaller
deals as well and we will continue to look for suitable partners
in that way," said Chief Financial Officer Steve Roder.
Manulife agreed to pay $1.2 billion to Singapore's DBS Group
Holdings DBSM.SI last April for a 15-year partnership that
will let the insurer sell products through the lender's Asian
branch network in what is known as the "bancassurance" model.
Strong Asian growth helped Manulife's core earnings to rise
nearly 14 percent to C$905 million, or 44 Canadian cents per
share, beating analysts average estimate by 1 Canadian cent,
according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Like other insurance companies, Manulife has been attracted
to Asia by the region's burgeoning middle class.
"What we're seeing in Asia is this rapid emergence of a
middle class. That's a big, big driver," Roder said in an
interview.
Roder said sales in Singapore were up over 500 percent on
the year before while Japan saw very strong growth and emerging
markets such as Vietnam and the Philippines saw growth of over
50 percent year-on-year.
Seventy percent of Manulife's insurance premiums are now
from Asia and Roder said he expected that to keep increasing.
Manulife has a presence in every Asian country except South
Korea and India and Roder said it had no need to enter those
markets.
The insurer said in February it would be difficult to
achieve its core earnings target of C$4 billion in 2016, with
the weak oil price hitting the value of its investments in the
energy sector. ID:nL2N15Q0I1
However, Roder said the price of assets being sold indicated
people don't believe the current price of oil is here to stay.
"We do believe that the worst of this is behind us and the
rest of the industry," Roder said.
Assets under management and administration were C$904
billion at the end of March, down from C$935 billion at the end
of December, primarily due to the strengthening Canadian dollar.
($1 = C$1.28)