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With global headquarters in Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group with operations in Asia, Canada and the U.S. Manulife started its operations in Hong Kong in 1897, and has since grown to become one of the top-tier providers of financial services in the region, offering a diverse range of financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions services to two million customers in Hong Kong and Macau, with the aim to help people make their decisions easier and lives better, and to ensure they are well-protected. Michael Ting heads up the Hong Kong and Macau legal and compliance functions at Manulife as General Counsel (Legal and Compliance). The legal team at Manulife maintains the overall legal and compliance framework of the company, and provides legal, regulatory and compliance advice to the business that is essential to the planning and execution of Manulife’s business strategies. Led by Michael, the award-winning legal team supports the business on a wide range of matters, helping the company achieve strong results for the past years with a commitment to serve its clients Easier, Better and Faster.

The team at Manulife, under the leadership of Michael, envisioned to modernise the traditional underwriting policies and increase the accessibility of life insurance products and services for its customers from the lens of inclusivity which result in Manulife’s offering of individual life insurance coverage to customers who are diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This breakthrough in underwriting allows HIV-positive customers in Hong Kong to be covered by life insurance, ensuring financial security for their loved ones and families.

Further still, recognising the importance and often under-privileged LGBT community, the team in Manulife pioneered a comprehensive legal review on enabling an expanded definition of family as beneficiaries for policies and accept same-sex partners to purchase life insurance policies for their loved ones.

Manulife’s legal team also provide counsel to the industrial incentive of re-domiciling insurers incorporated in Bermuda back to Hong Kong in the past few years. This is then developed into successful lobbying for the Hong Kong SAR government to establish an all-embracing re-domiciliation regime for companies incorporated aboard back to town, with a view to strengthen the position of Hong Kong as a hub of international finance and insurance centre.