Roy Gori, president and CEO of Manulife Asia. Photo provided for chinadaily.com.cn

Part of the growth Manulife has enjoyed throughout Asia is built on forging new partnerships with regional banks — a source of some 30 to 50 percent of insurance sales in Asian markets. Earlier this year, Manulife entered into a 15-year bancassurance partnership with Singapore's leading consumer bank DBS across the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia. In China, the bancassurance business has nearly doubled since the partnership began.

Gori says Manulife is uniquely positioned to grow in Asia due to its long history in the market — having first arrived in Shanghai in 1897 — and its strong connections to local markets.

"Many companies think they can simply just go to Asia, put up their brand, and do business. Success in Asia requires real connectivity with local communities and understanding the diverse Asia marketplace. Credibility and trust mean a great deal here," Gori said.

Despite economic headwinds and a persistent global low-interest environment, Gori said the long-term Asian economic outlook — and the potential growth within the regional insurance sector — remains very positive.

"There are powerful forces in Asia, and particularly China, which make this a crucial market for Manulife. Asia's middle class is on its way to being the most influential consumer group on the planet, and insurance ownership within that group is still very low. Manulife is extremely well-positioned to answer that growing demand," Gori said.

He attributes Manulife's current high growth in the region to the company's renewed focus on understanding its consumers, providing integrated solutions to meet their holistic needs, and building a compelling multichannel strategy to serve the customer on their own terms. On the Chinese mainland, where life insurance penetration rates are relatively low, Gori believes Manulife can achieve continued growth in the long term.

"People forget that when an economy has grown as much as China's has, slowing growth now is still considerably better growth than from previous years. Even at 6 or 6.5 percent, China compares very favorably to any Western economy. While there is undeniably some slowdown, we will succeed by building a business that puts the customer first in a way that most insurers haven't done before," Gori said.