Underscoring its aggressive strategic evolution into an AI-powered enterprise, Manulife has achieved historic recognition in the newly released 2026 Evident AI Index for Insurance.

For the second consecutive year, Manulife has been named the #1 Life Insurance Company globally for AI maturity. Accelerating its trajectory from previous years, the firm has also captured the #1 spot in Canada across all insurance categories, climbed to #1 globally in the AI Leadership category, and secured a remarkable #3 position overall among the world's leading insurers.

These prestigious accolades serve as powerful validation of Manulife’s ability to scale artificial intelligence across its vast global footprint. By embedding AI into the core fabric of its business, the company is driving measurable enterprise value, optimizing operational efficiencies, and radically redefining the experience for its customers, colleagues, and shareholders.

Driving Billions in Enterprise Value

Manulife’s AI initiatives are not merely experimental prototypes; they are disciplined, scaled business solutions tied directly to financial performance.

“We are incredibly proud of these rankings, which validate our refreshed enterprise strategy and our unwavering commitment to being an AI-powered organization,” said Phil Witherington, President and CEO of Manulife. “As we scale these technologies globally, our focus remains on disciplined execution and responsible deployment. We are on track to generate more than $1 billion in enterprise value by 2027, having already achieved $300 million as of year-end 2025. This proves our approach is delivering tangible, bottom-line impact while making insurance more accessible and efficient.”

Unmatched Deployment and Global Scale

According to Evident’s independent analysis, Manulife has disclosed the deployment of more active AI use cases than any other insurer included in the Index. This aggressive, outcome-oriented implementation spans multiple regions and business units:

• Canada: The Manulife Automated Underwriting Decision Engine (MAUDE) now automatically processes over half of all eligible individual life insurance applications. MAUDE slashes turnaround times, delivering instant decisions in as little as two minutes for qualified applicants.

• United States: John Hancock’s Quick Quote platform utilizes advanced algorithms to radically simplify and accelerate the life insurance quoting journey, transforming consumer onboarding.

• Global Wealth & Asset Management: A sophisticated suite of AI-enabled tools has been integrated into portfolios to deepen market insights, enhance predictive analytics, and optimize complex investment decision-making.

• Asia: Manulife has deployed specialized AI capabilities ranging from automated claims management and digital underwriting to AI-driven virtual assistants for distribution partners, creating deeply personalized customer experiences.

Benchmarking AI Maturity in Insurance

The annual Evident AI Index for Insurance is widely regarded as the gold standard for benchmarking corporate AI adoption. It rigorously assesses 30 of the most prominent insurance institutions across North America and Europe, evaluating them across four pillars:

As the insurance sector transitions rapidly from foundational capability-building to high-stakes optimization, the bar for the 2026 Index was significantly higher. Manulife's upward mobility underscores its structural readiness for the next generation of computing.

Responsibility and Execution at the Core

A critical differentiator for Manulife is its rigorous approach to AI governance. As the technology becomes ubiquitous, safeguarding data and ensuring ethical deployment remain paramount.

“This recognition reflects the deliberate, systematic way we are scaling AI's impact across the entire company,” noted Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer at Manulife. “Our focus is entirely on practical applications that yield measurable outcomes. Crucially, this is underpinned by a strong governance framework that is increasingly automated and seamlessly embedded into our development lifecycle. Evolving from simple adoption to consistent, enterprise-wide execution is what sets our teams apart.”

Industry observers have taken note of Manulife’s unique willingness to tie its AI strategy to concrete financial metrics—a rarity in the financial services sector.

“Manulife's second consecutive year at the top of the life insurance rankings reflects its uncanny ability to build AI capacity around the workflows that matter most,” stated Alexandra Mousavizadeh, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Evident. “By growing their AI talent pool by 41% year-on-year and embedding a deeply scalable architecture, they are fundamentally improving customer access and long-term relationships. Furthermore, being among a very select few insurers to transparently publish both realized and projected financial returns demonstrates the absolute robustness of Manulife’s internal metrics.”

Looking Ahead

Guided by its forward-looking Enterprise Strategy and a strict set of Responsible AI Principles, Manulife is successfully dismantling traditional operational bottlenecks. By empowering its advisors with sharper insights, freeing colleagues from administrative burdens, and providing clients with rapid, intuitive digital experiences, Manulife is setting the definitive blueprint for the modern, AI-first financial institution.

To explore Manulife’s ongoing AI journey, research, and technical milestones, please visit manulife.com/AI.

The complete 2026 Evident AI Insurance Index report, including detailed company scorecards and full methodology, is available directly at evidentinsights.com.