Manulife Investment Management's Asia CMO promoted to new digital role

Manulife Investment Management, a wealth and asset management company, has promoted Grace Ho, its chief marketing officer for Asia, to head of its direct digital business and portfolios for the region.

The newly-created role will see Ho focus on expanding the company's digitally-enabled distribution capability to address a new set of customer needs across investing and retirement, and new distribution models with intermediaries and direct digital platforms, according to the company.

Recruitment for Ho's replacement as CMO is underway and she will stay on in the role until one is hired. 

In her new role, Ho will have business accountability for the direct digital business, and be responsible for integrating digital offerings such as Manulife iFunds and post log-in website experience into the firm’s digital ecosystems across investment and pension platforms. She will also become the product owner of Manulife iFunds, a digital platform that allows investors to manage their mutual fund portfolios. 

Manulife iFunds has been launched in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam since 2019. “Currently, Manulife iFunds is deployed to serve more than 100,000 customer accounts and over 3,000 Manulife advisors across Asia," Ho said in a statement. "More than 70% of our accounts in Hong Kong are using Manulife iFunds, and in Malaysia, over 70% of our total transactions are handled through this digital solution since its launch in October 2020,” 

Ho will use skills she has honed over her five-year stint as the firm's CMO to help further drive the adoption of this product. “We are introducing Manulife iFunds to the Singapore market to digitally enable advisors to provide better service to our investment-linked plan customers," she added.  "Across the markets where Manulife iFunds is available, our target is to achieve 100% customer adoption in three years.”

In 2020, Manulife Investment organised 75 regional webinars and virtual conferences for its distribution channels and end investors, recording over 53,000 views. Ho has also used social media to disseminate market and investment insights, with over 400 posts published and 22 million views garnered. 

Another area for Ho is the advancement of the range of digital solutions in supporting Manulife’s captive distribution channel. “Digital solutions play a vital role in equipping our advisors with investment and market insights for the delivery of quality customer experience the way our customers want it,” she added.