Manulife Seeks to Boost Profit With U.S., Asia Growth

Manulife Financial Corp., the worst-performing financial stock in Canada this year, is aiming to increase profit to C$4 billion ($3.91 billion) by 2015 as it boosts sales in Asia and the U.S.

Profit will be driven by the Boston-based John Hancock Financial unit and an expansion of equity and interest-rate hedging programs, the Toronto-based insurer said today at an investor conference. Manulife expects return on equity of 13 percent by 2015, the firm said in a statement. At the end of the third quarter, it was negative 15.1 percent.