Manulife plan will cut costs

Article Excerpt

MANULIFE FINANCIAL CORP. $23.69 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares o/s: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $47.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.manulife.ca) is Canada’s largest life insurer. The company also sells other forms of insurance, including health, dental and travel plans; in addition, it offers mutual funds and investment management services. As of March 31, 2018, Manulife had $1.1 trillion in assets under administration. The company now aims to cut about 700 jobs in Canada through voluntary exit programs in the customer service area. That number is equal to roughly 5% of Manulife’s Canadian workforce of 13,000 and 2% of its global workforce of 35,000. The cuts come as the company aims to automate more customer transactions. Manulife believes those clients should be able to do many of the functions now performed by its staff. These range from processing paperwork to finding information over the telephone. Manulife is still a buy. buy…