Manulife Investment Management works primarily with institutional clients such as other financial institutions and sponsors of large investment accounts. It operates as an advisor to multiple other advisor firms.
Manulife Investment Management Background
Manulife currently oversees billions in assets under management (AUM). The firm is based in Boston and employs advisory teams around the world. Though formed in 1968, the firm registered as an investment advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1992.
Today, it operates as a direct wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Life Insurance Company, which, in turn, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation, a publicly held company based in Canada. The latter entity is affiliated with both registered and non-registered investment advisors throughout the world.
Manulife Investment Management Types of Clients and Minimum Account Sizes
Manulife works primarily with institutional clients, including public and private pension funds, foundations, mandatory provident funds outside the U.S., financial institutions, investment trusts and separately managed accounts. It also advises non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals.
Manulife generally requires institutional clients, other than investment companies, to have account minimums ranging from $10 million to $50 million. Clients enrolled in the firm’s managed account program generally have minimum account sizes of $25,000 to $100,000. Manulife will discuss specific account minimums directly with its clients. It may amend or waive these requirements at its discretion.
Services Offered by Manulife Investment Management
Manulife primarily offers investment advisory services to managed accounts, most of which are created and managed by unaffiliated investment advisors and other entities. The scope of these services ranges from periodically updating a model portfolio on behalf of the account sponsor to directly managing the account on a fully discretionary basis. In this sense, Manulife acts as an advisor to the advisor. It provides some investment assistance to the program sponsor overseeing the account.
The firm also serves as manager or sub-advisor to mutual funds sponsored by its affiliates and manages advisory accounts of affiliates such as pension assets for the John Hancock Life Insurance Company and general account assets for Manulife (International) Limited. Additionally, Manulife offers advisory services to clients overseen by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and non-ERISA plans.
Manulife Investment Management Investment Philosophy
Because Manulife serves a variety of institutional clients with different investment goals, it adopts a variety of different strategies. However, it places an emphasis on proprietary fundamental research.
Fundamental analysis entails conducting intensive research on the financials behind companies, their competitors, industries and countries to make investment decisions. The firm also engages in quantitative analysis, which involves systematically ranking securities and other financial instruments throughout the investing universe.
Fees Under Manulife Investment Management
Managed account program annual fees typically range from 0.34% to 0.75% of assets managed. These fees are paid by the program sponsor on a quarterly basis in most cases. Manulife and its affiliates may collect fees from private funds as a percentage of AUM or net asset value. In addition, clients may incur external expenses such as brokerage and transaction costs along with fees rendered by account custodians.
What to Watch Out For
Manulife's SEC-filed Form ADV features several disclosures on its record. All of these apply to advisory affiliates of the firm, though.
Opening an Account With Manulife Investment Management
To contact Manulife, call the main office in Boston at 617-375-1500.
All information was accurate as of the writing of this article.
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