Manulife Financial Corporation ($MFC)

[Presentation]

Well, good morning. Welcome, and thank you all for joining us today. On behalf of our Board, we welcome you to the Annual Meeting of Manulife Financial Corporation and the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. My name is Don Lindsay, and I'm Chair of the Board. The Board of Directors, on behalf of shareholders, policyholders and employees of Manulife acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 and that for thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. We recognize and honor these nations as the traditional stewards of the land and water on which Manulife's Toronto offices are now present. With that important acknowledgment, I, along with the Board of Directors, and privilege to address you today to share some highlights from a remarkable year for Manulife. In 2025, Manulife delivered record core earnings, continued expanding its global customer base and saw strong growth in new business value across the franchise. We continue to maintain significant financial flexibility, and we announced a 10.2% increase to our dividend per common share. And we bolstered our competitive position through investments that grew our global presence, strengthened our portfolio and advanced our strategic objectives. Manulife achieved all of this and more against the backdrop of geopolitical and economic uncertainty and rapidly evolving technology. 2025 was also a year of leadership transition for Manulife with Phil Witherington, becoming President and CEO. Now Phil is a well-known and well-regarded leader within Manulife. Having served as CEO of our Asia business and as Group CFO prior to his current role, he has a track record as a strategic forward-thinking leader who delivers results. Under Phil's leadership, Manulife announced a refreshed enterprise strategy in November of 2025, supported by 5 new strategic priorities that build on our strengths and position us to be the #1 choice for customers. These priorities strike a balance between strategic continuity and bold investment in future growth to help ensure Manulife is positioned to capitalize on global megatrends over the long term. The Board is fully aligned with Manulife's new ambition and has confidence in the leadership team's, ability to execute this strategy with speed, clarity and discipline. We're deeply committed to providing steady oversight through this pivotal period as Manulife accelerates digital transformation to become an AI-powered organization, deepens customer experiences and unlocks value across our global portfolio. In closing, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Phil and to the executive leadership team for their leadership and to my fellow Board members for their unwavering focus on strong governance. We reflect on 2025 with pride and look forward to supporting Phil and the rest of Manulife's leadership team as they lead Manulife into its next phase of growth, scaling innovation and delivering sustainable value for our customers and shareholders. And to our customers and shareholders, thank you for your continued support. And to our teams around the world, thank you for your hard work. You are vital to achieving our ambition and ensuring a strong future for Manulife. Phil and I are joined on stage today by Chief Financial Officer, Colin Simpson; and Corporate Secretary, Antonella Deo. And before handing over to Phil for his remarks, we'd like to review a few housekeeping items. First, this meeting is being broadcast in both English and French. For attendees online to switch languages, please click on your desired language from the buttons above the presentation screen. Closed captioning is also being provided in both English and French. For attendees in person, there are translation headsets available. Channel #1 is for English, channel #2 for French. If you did not receive a headset when you registered and would like one now, please raise your hand and a volunteer will provide you with one. Closed captioning will also be shown on the monitors to the left and the right of the stage in English and in French, as indicated. If you need assistance during the meeting, there are volunteers at the back of the room. To be able to vote or ask questions during the meeting, online participants had to join the meeting by entering their control number at the registration screen. Information on where to find your control number was provided in the meeting materials sent to shareholders and policyholders and posted on our website. For attendees online, to ask a question during the formal business of the meeting, you can click on the messaging button on the screen and enter your question in the text box and click the send button. We will receive the questions and read them for all to hear or you can enter your phone number and topic in the text box. The operator will then dial you into the meeting. Once you pick up, you will hear the meeting on your phone. Please mute your computer and listen to the live feed on your phone only. And this will prevent any delay or feedback from occurring. When called upon to ask your questions, the operator will then unmute your line. Please be sure to clearly indicate the topic your question relates to when submitting it online, so we can address it at the appropriate time. For attendees here in person to ask a question during the formal business of the meeting, please come to one of the stationary microphones and identify yourself and confirm whether you are a shareholder of MFC, a policyholder of MLI or a duly appointed proxy holder. If you're unable to come to one of the stationary microphones please raise your hand and a volunteer will bring a microphone to you. Now in the interest of giving sufficient time to respond to the questions of others, please only ask one question at a time and ensure your question does not exceed 3 minutes in length. Questions during the formal business of the meeting should relate to the matter being discussed. Questions of a general nature that are of interest to all shareholders and policyholders will be dealt with during the Q&A session following the conclusion of the formal business of the meeting. In fairness to other shareholders and policyholders, we ask that you not submit personal or offensive questions. If your question relates to a personal matter, and you are in the room, please hold your question and approach one of our volunteers at the back who will direct you to an on-site management representative. If you have joined us via the webcast please indicate in the text box that you would like someone to contact you and provide your contact information. We will not be addressing questions of a personal nature or that are offensive during the meeting. A reminder that only shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders may ask questions. We draw your attention to the caution regarding forward-looking statements in the presentation slide. Comments made during this meeting may include forward-looking statements as defined in securities legislation. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. And please also refer to the note regarding the non-GAAP and other financial measures used in today's presentations. And with that, I will now hand it over to Phil.

Well, thank you, Don, and good morning, everyone. It is an honor to speak with you today, just over a year into my tenure as Manulife's President and CEO and what a year it has been from record core earnings and impressive new business growth across each of our insurance segments to announcing our refreshed strategy and making targeted strategic investments, it was a year of growth that positions us well to achieve our new ambition to be the #1 choice for customers. I'm excited for what lies ahead and confident in our team's continued performance. So let's dive in. We are proud of our strong 2025 financial results, including robust cash generation that enables us to deploy capital strategically and in 2025, we returned $5.4 billion to you, our shareholders, all while investing in our business to deliver continued growth. We also strengthened our diversified portfolio this year. First, we acquired Comvest Credit Partners, accelerating the growth of our private markets platform and enhancing our asset management capabilities. Then we acquired Schroder's Indonesia, reinforcing our position as the leading asset manager in Indonesia and expanding the range of world-class investment solutions we can offer our clients. We established a joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra to enter the insurance market in India, one of the world's fastest-growing insurance markets. This strategic move expands our global footprint and positions us for growth in all 3 mega economies of the future, the U.S., China and India. And finally, we are investing to further strengthen our leadership position in our home market of Canada and deliver new business growth and sustain a scaled presence in the United States. These strategic investments will help to drive our long-term growth, and I'm grateful to our partners and our teams around the world who have made each of these milestones possible. And on a personal note, I know that I will look back fondly on this year as we successfully entered a new chapter for Manulife with my appointment as CEO. As I've settled into this new position, I am incredibly proud and grateful of the support of my predecessor, Roy Gori, and the entire Board of Directors, executive leadership team and our teams around the world who have embraced our new ambition and enterprise strategy. In my first 100 days, I visited our offices across Canada including Waterloo, Montreal and Halifax. I also visited the U.S. and Europe and many of our markets in Asia, where I met thousands of colleagues, partners and investors. The insights from those early days helped shape our leadership team's thinking as we set our near- and long-term goals in this new chapter for Manulife. And in the months that followed, I've continued to take a proactive stance externally, meeting with world leaders, government officials and policymakers to ensure that Manulife is at the table informing policy decisions that can help improve the lives of our more than 37 million customers. These engagements renewed my confidence in what I already knew to be true. Our people and culture are our greatest strengths. Our transformation over recent years is a testament to that but we know we must continue to be nimble because the world around us is ever changing. Market volatility and global economic uncertainty are heightened. Consumer digital expectations are climbing and competition for top talent and distribution are intensifying, reshaping our industry for good. At the same time, we anticipate record levels of intergenerational wealth transfer, growing opportunities in the mega economies of the future and sustained scale arising from low insurance penetration rates and retirement savings gaps in many markets around the world. We are well positioned for this reality, thanks to our diversification by business, geography and distribution mix and due to our industry-leading AI position and top quartile employee engagement. Combined with our top-tier innovative insurance capabilities, global wealth and retirement businesses and strong presence across high-growth markets in Asia and in North America's more mature markets, we are taking decisive action to stay ahead. As I referenced earlier, in November 2025, we announced our refreshed enterprise strategy and introduced our new ambition to be the #1 choice for customers. Our strategy includes 5 new strategic priorities, enabled by digital first integrated platforms, capital strength, financial discipline and long-term vision and strong risk management and governance. Our strategy gives us a clear path to capture opportunities and deliver shareholder value for the next decade and beyond. And the strategy is contemporary, recognizing the transformational power of AI and providing competitive differentiations in the solutions we provide to customers by recognizing the importance and interconnectivity between customer health, wealth and longevity. We've been recognized by Evident AI as the leading life insurer for AI maturity and responsible innovation. And last year, we deployed AI sales enablement and underwriting solutions across all 4 operating segments. This work is delivering measurable results and meaningful impact for our customers, colleagues and distribution partners. Under our new strategy, we will continue this work to become a truly AI-powered organization. This year, we also redefined our commitment to advancing health, wealth and financial well-being for our customers. With product innovation continuing across our segments, we are differentiating Manulife from our peers. This includes embedding incentives to encourage healthier lifestyles, preventing or slowing the onset of disease and providing access to early detection tests for diseases such as cancer. And in recognition of the responsibility we have to the communities in which we operate, concurrent with the introduction of our refreshed strategy, we launched the Manulife Longevity Institute, a global community investment and research platform backed by a $350 million commitment through 2030. This enables us to advance our community impact while helping our customers live longer and healthier lives for generations to come. With the Board's support, our leadership team continues to move quickly to execute and deliver milestones that set us up for enduring success. I'm truly energized by the opportunities ahead for our team, our shareholders and the communities we operate in. In closing, it is an honor to serve as Manulife's President and CEO. As a proud Canadian leading such an iconic Canadian company with a long history, I feel a real sense of duty to each of you, our shareholders and all our customers and our communities around the world. Thank you to our Board Chair and our entire Board of Directors for their continued support for our team and strategy. Thank you to our executive leadership team for your partnership and dedication to making lives better. And thank you to our 106,000 distribution partners and 37,000 colleagues whose hard work makes our success possible. And thank you to you, our shareholders and customers, for the trust you place in us to help secure your future. For more than 130 years, our company has navigated periods of geopolitical and economic uncertainty. And our expertise remains rooted in disciplined risk management and long-term decision-making. As a result, I am confident in our ability to not only achieve our targets but also drive high-quality sustainable growth for years to come and to be the clear #1 choice for customers. Thank you. Don, back to you.

And thank you to you, Phil, for both your remarks and your leadership. I will now call to order the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of MFC and the Annual Meeting of Policyholders and the Shareholder of MLI. Antonella Deo will act as Secretary of the meeting and Jennifer Andersen and Sarah Hunter of TSX Trust Company will act as scrutineers for both MFC and MLI. The notice of this meeting was sent to all shareholders and policyholders required to be sent such notice and the quorum requirements for the meeting have been met. Accordingly, this meeting is now properly convened. We will now table the following items: 2025 consolidated financial statements of MFC and of MLI as well as the reports of the auditor and the actuary thereon. The 2025 consolidated financial statements of MFC were sent to shareholders in accordance with the Insurance Companies Act, Canada and the applicable securities legislation. The 2025 consolidated financial statements of MLI were sent to policyholders in accordance with the Insurance Companies Act, Canada. And the information for participating policyholders of MLI, which includes summaries of the participating policyholder dividend policy and the participating account management policy. This information can be found in the 2025 report to policyholders, which was sent to all participating policyholders who requested notice of meetings. Now do we have any questions on the financial statements or the information for participating policyholders of MLI. Seeing none in the room, Antonella, do we have any questions online?

We do not have any online questions.

Thank you. We will now proceed to the voting section of the meeting. Before commencing, we would like to provide instructions for how shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders may vote. For shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders in person to be able to vote during the meeting, ballots were handed out at the registration desk prior to the meeting. If you did not receive a ballot when you registered, and are entitled to vote but you have not already voted by proxy, please raise your hand and the scrutineers will provide you with the required ballots. To the extent that you have voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, you do not need to do anything. As we proceed through each item of business, shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders that joined the meeting online using their control number, will see the resolutions to be voted on displayed on the screen as the item of business is being discussed. Shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders that join the meeting here in person will see the resolutions to be voted on displayed on the screen in the room. To vote, click one of the voting options available online or mark your vote on the green ballot for MFC or the yellow ballot for MLI. Votes submitted online will be automatically included in the vote tabulation. Scrutineers will collect ballots for those who are here voting in person. If you have not voted in advance of the meeting and you do not press one of either for withhold or against when voting is open, your vote will not be recorded, and you will be regarded as having abstained from voting. We will be voting on items of business for both MFC shareholders and MLI policyholders. If you are both an MFC shareholder and an MLI policyholder or a proxy holder for both, you may vote on all matters. If you are an MFC shareholder but not an MLI policyholder or vice versa, you will see the items being voted upon for each company, but votes cast will only be counted towards the company of which you are a holder. A simple majority is required to approve matters voted on at this meeting. To facilitate efficiently proceeding through the business of the meeting, Manulife employees who are MFC and MLI proxy holders will move all resolutions. Preliminary results will be announced after voting closes for all matters, and then final results will be posted on our website following the meeting. First item of business is the election of the directors of MFC and MLI. You may either vote for or withhold your vote from each director nominee. We will now vote on the election of directors of MFC. The number of directors to be elected today, as determined by the Board, is 13. If you have already voted and do not wish to change your vote, there is nothing for you to do at this time. Information on each nominee is set out in the management information circular for this meeting. Michelle Joy Rafat, an employee and a proxy holder has agreed to move this resolution.

Mr. Chair, I am pleased to nominate the 13 directors as set out in the management information circular and as shown on the screen as directors of MFC to hold office until the close of the next Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of MFC or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Thank you. Do we have any questions on the election of the directors of MFC. Seeing none in the room, Antonella. Do we have any questions online? .

No questions at this time.

Thank you. For shareholders and proxies online, please vote online for the election of directors of MFC. For shareholders and proxy holders here in person, please mark your ballot for the election of directors of MFC. Voting is now closed for the election of the directors of MFC. We will now vote on the election of directors of MLI. The number of directors to be elected today, as determined by the Board, is 13, made up of 5 policyholder directors and 8 shareholder directors. Information regarding the nominees is set out in the report to policyholders for this meeting. The participating policyholders of MLI vote for the policyholder directors. And if you've already voted and do not wish to change your vote, there is nothing for you to do at this time. Camille Ricketts, an employee and a proxy holder has agreed to move this resolution.

Mr. Chair, I'm pleased to nominate the 5 directors as set out in the report to policyholders and as shown on the screen as policyholder directors of MLI to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Thank you. Do we have any questions on the election of policyholder directors of MLI? Seeing none in the room. Antonella, have we received any questions online?

We have not.

Thank you. For policyholders and proxy holders online, please vote online for the election of the policyholder directors of MLI. And for policyholders and proxy holders here in person, please mark your ballot for the election of the policyholder directors of MLI. [Voting]

Voting is now closed as it relates to the election of the policyholder directors of MLI. We will now move to the election of the shareholder directors of MLI. As the sole shareholder of MLI, MFC has elected the shareholder directors by written resolution in accordance with the Insurance Companies Act of Canada. The 8 directors shown on the screen and as set out in the report to policyholders have been elected as the shareholder directors of MLI to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting or until their successors are elected or appointed. We will now vote on the appointment of auditors for MFC and MLI. If you have already voted and do not wish to change your vote, there is nothing for you to do at this time. Michelle Joy Rafat, an employee and proxy holder has agreed to move this resolution.

Mr. Chair, I move that Ernst & Young LLP chartered accountants be appointed auditors of MFC and MLI until the close of the next annual meeting at a remuneration to be fixed by the directors.

Thank you. Camille Ricketts, an employee and proxy holder has agreed to second this motion.

Mr. Chair, I second the motion.

Thank you. Do we have any questions on the appointment of the auditors for MFC and MLI, seeing none in the room. Antonella, have we received any questions online?

We do not have any online questions.

Thank you. For shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders online, please vote online now for the appointment of the auditors of MFC and MLI. For shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders, who are here in person, please mark your ballot for the appointment of the auditors of MFC and MLI. [Voting]

Voting is now closed as it relates to the appointment of the auditors for MFC and MLI. We will now hold the nonbinding shareholder advisory vote on MFC's approach to executive compensation. MFC's executive compensation program is designed to contribute to our long-term sustainable growth by rewarding executives for strong performance in executing our business strategy. Your Board believes that shareholders should have an opportunity to understand how and why the Board makes its executive compensation decisions and should be able to provide input to the Board on executive compensation. We take our shareholders' feedback seriously and we will continue to do so. If you have already voted and do not wish to change your vote, there is nothing for you to do at this time. Michelle Joy Rafat, an employee and a proxy holder has agreed to move this resolution.

Mr. Chair, I move that the advisory resolution to accept MFC's approach to executive compensation as set out on Page 14 of the management information circular be approved.

Thank you. Camille Ricketts, an employee and a proxy holder has agreed to second this motion.

Mr. Chair, I second the motion.

Thank you. Do we have any questions on the advisory resolution on MFC's approach to executive compensation? Seeing none in the room. Antonella, have we received any questions online?

No online questions.

Thank you. For shareholders and proxy holders online, please vote now online for the approval of the advisory resolution on MFC's approach to executive compensation. And for shareholders and proxy holders here in person, please mark your ballot for the approval of the advisory resolution on MFC's approach to executive compensation. [Voting]

Voting is now closed as it relates to the approval of the advisory resolution on MFC's approach to executive compensation. For shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders here in person, the scrutineers will now collect the ballots, and we will wait a few moments for all ballots to be collected. Okay. Thank you. The scrutineers have prepared their preliminary report, and Antonella Deo will now present the preliminary results of the votes.

On the election of directors of MFC, each director nominee received at least 95% of the votes in favor.

I declare that all 13 director nominees have been elected as directors of MFC.

On the election of policyholder directors of MLI, each policyholder director nominee received at least 90% of the votes in favor.

I declare that all 5 nominees have been elected as policyholders directors of MLI.

On the appointment of auditors, for both MFC and MLI at least 89% of the votes were cast in favor of the appointment of Ernst & Young as auditor.

I declare that Ernst & Young LLP has been appointed as auditors of MFC and of MLI.

On the advisory resolution to accept MFC's approach to executive compensation, more than 94% voted for and less than 6% voted against.

I declare that the shareholders have accepted Manulife's approach to executive compensation. And I want to thank the shareholders for your vote. The scrutineers' report in final form will be recorded in the minutes of this meeting and will be posted on our website following the meeting. This concludes the formal business of the meeting. Your Board would like to acknowledge Phil and the executive leadership team for their leadership through this next chapter for Manulife and for their commitment to disciplined execution of our refreshed enterprise strategy. And on behalf of the Board of Directors, I also want to thank Manulife colleagues for their unwavering focus on bringing to life Manulife's purpose, which is to make decisions easier and lives better for our more than 37 million customers around the world. And finally, thank you to our fellow shareholders and policyholders for your continued trust, support and feedback. We will now turn to the question-and-answer period. As a reminder, only shareholders, policyholders and proxy holders may ask questions. To be able to vote or ask questions during the meeting, online participants had to join the meeting by entering their control number at the registration screen. To ask a question, you can click on the messaging button on the screen and either enter your question in the text box and click the send button. We will receive the questions and read them for all to hear or you can enter your phone number and the topic in the text box and the operator will then dial you into the meeting. Once you pick up, you will hear the meeting on your phone, and so then please mute your computer and listen to the live feed on your phone only. This will prevent any delay or feedback from occurring. When called upon to ask your question, the operator will unmute your line. For shareholders, policyholders or proxy holders in person, please come to one of the stationary microphones and identify yourself and confirm whether you are a shareholder of MFC, a policyholder of MLI or a duly appointed proxy holder. If you are unable to come to one of the stationary microphones, please raise your hand and a volunteer will bring a microphone to you. In the interest of giving sufficient time to respond to the questions of others, please only ask 1 question at a time and ensure your question does not exceed 3 minutes in length. Questions of a similar nature will be grouped together to avoid repetition. Questions should be of interest to all shareholders and policyholders and should not be offensive or of a personal nature. As stated previously, in fairness to other shareholders and policyholders, we ask that you not submit personal or offensive questions. If your question relates to a personal matter, and you are here in the room, please hold your question and approach one of our volunteers at the back who will direct you to an on-site management representative. If you have joined us via the webcast, please indicate in the text box that you would like someone to contact you and provide your contact information. We will not be addressing questions of a personal nature or that are offensive during the meeting. So, we're open for questions.

I see we have one at this microphone over here. So please.

Hello. My name is Kyra Bell-Pasht, and I work with Investors for Paris Compliance. Nice to see some of you again. I am here as a proxy holder on behalf of the Salal Foundation. So -- as I mentioned, Investors for Paris Compliance is a climate shareholder advocacy group, and we have been following Manulife's progress towards its net-zero commitment and its general account since about 2022. And the commitment having been made in 2021. Over these 4 years, we have valued the open dialogue with the Chief of Sustainability, her team with the previous CEO and the current CEO and we have been encouraged by steady progress, incremental progress towards this general account commitment. From the outset of our engagement, one of our goals has been to secure acknowledgment that ongoing fossil fuel investment presents a unique and growing risk to Manulife's core business of ensuring policyholder health and well-being, adverse health impacts from air pollution and extreme weather will intensify as long as capital continues to flow towards the problem rather than the solutions. Heading into this AGM, we're pleased to see that Manulife has begun analyzing climate and health data from policyholder claims, including air quality impacts, we're also pleased to see a decline in its legacy fossil fuel assets and its general count from $1.9 billion in 2024 to $1.7 billion in 2025. I hope I'm getting that right. and a commitment to decline these holdings going forward. And to increase generally its investments in transition. However, our analysis shows that Manulife does not appear yet to be on track to reach a ratio of 4.8:1 low carbon to fossil fuel energy investments in its general account by 2030, which Bloomberg NEF states is required to achieve its net-zero commitments. So my question, sorry for the long preamble -- in light of the -- in light of the strong links between climate and health and Manulife's commitment to achieve its net-zero -- to achieve net-zero in its general account, I'm curious to know whether in the coming year, Manulife will commit to a quantitative target to increase its investments in the opportunity side of the climate ledger, the energy transition and renewables, really a commitment to invest in the health of its policyholders. So thank you. I look forward to your answer.

Thank you very much for your question and your comments. And I do want to say upfront that we very much appreciate your acknowledgment of the quality of dialogue with our team at Manulife. I'll make a couple of comments and then Phil may want to add things more specific. But as you said towards the end of your comments, there's no doubt for a life and a health insurer that climate change and human health are directly connected and we are very, very much committed to going forward, taking action on climate change. We have a climate action plan have had for a number of years with targets all across our listed assets, the power generation project finance and our own operations. And we've seen some pretty strong progress so far, though, obviously much work to do. In addition, our sustainable investments, including renewables, represent about 11% of the portfolio alongside roughly $13 billion in labeled bonds underscoring that sustainability is already embedded in our approach. As the initial target time lines conclude as we get close to that, we are reviewing next steps to keep future targets ambitious, which is towards the specific question that you're asking and make sure they're credible and aligned with today's policy and market conditions and we are going to continue to engage with you and hopefully maintain a high quality of dialogue on the issue. So that's sort of from the Board's perspective. But Phil, I don't know if you want to add anything more specific.

I've got a microphone that works. Firstly, and I think Don has covered it nicely. But firstly, I wanted to -- thank you for the question. And -- as Don said, for the constructive engagement from Investors for Paris Compliance, you have our commitment that we will continue to gauge equally as constructively. And as Don laid out, as we look to the future, we are now getting into a period where we have, as you referenced, made a lot of progress. And we are actually coming up on the periods of time when some of our targets, the relevant completion dates will fall, and that causes us to actually review what is the next wave of targets that will remain relevant and credible and ambitious. And so we will take this feedback on board, and we look forward to that continued engagement. One final point that I will make. You referenced the link between air quality and human health, that is something that is of great interest to us. It's very important to our business, but it's also important to the health of the communities in which we operate. We take that very seriously, and we are investing in research into that topic, and we have partnered with a Canadian university to explore. And this is early stage, but explore one element of that, which is the connection between severe climate events and mental health. And I think it's not just always about physical health, but mental health is also an important consideration. Thank you for your question today.

Antonella, just check, do we have any questions online?

Not yet.

Okay. Thank you. Back to the room here.

Hi, my name is Sharon. I'm a policyholder and the shareholder. I'm sorry, but this concerns policyholders, including my husband, who have suffered significant losses and cuts in their life insurance, death benefits as a result of Manulife's dividend scale decreases over the years. Manulife has cut a total of 55,000 from my husband's death benefit insurance coverage. Not only has he lost 55,000 in death benefit, he also had to pay more to Manulife, 137% more in premium payment. For the past 13 years, Manulife simply used the excuse that the dividend scale has decreased to unfairly cut my husband's death benefit by 55,000. My question is how did your company's dividend scale decreases led to my husband's 55,000 loss. For the past 13 years, Manulife never explained how the dividend scale decreases caused the 55,000 death benefit cut and the 137% increase in premium payment. I'm sorry, but your company's AVP, Mr. Blair Anderson and his team simply covered up and said they consider the matter closed. Even though they have repeatedly refused to correct, among other things, their premium calculation errors, their overcharge errors, and their completely wrong guaranteed maximum premium rates errors. Manulife's 55,000 cut ended up 137% premium increase are in violation of my husband's policy contract. Section 211 of the Ontario Regulation 700 unfair or deceptive acts or practices of the Insurance Act and 1998 class action settlement agreement. Manulife has cut the death benefit to the point that my husband's death benefit is now less than the death benefit he had when he purchased his policy 41 years ago. So he has more -- less money, a lot less money in his death benefit for the past 13 years. Mr. Anderson and his executive team have never shown any interest in correcting their among other things, their premium calculation error. their overcharge errors and their completely and totally wrong guarantee maximum premium rates errors. Can you please help. I've been to the on-site management team 3 times over the past 3 years, but they never wanted to help.

Thank you very much for your question. We do appreciate your concern, but I'm going to consider your question to be of a personal nature. And if you could please review the issue with one of the volunteers at the back, and they will direct you to someone who can give you detailed answers to your question. We'll move on to the next question. Is there another one in the room? Okay. Any online?

We do have a question from Mr. Jeff Carlson. Mr. Carlson, please go ahead.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

We've heard today from some shareholders about the evils of hydrocarbon production. And nothing could be further from the truth. The support by Manulife for the Canadian oil and gas sector in oil and gas production is critical to the well-being of Canadians and in fact, the entire world. Those who promote the policies aimed at limiting hydrocarbon production and refining would have you believe that fossil fuels are the root of all evil. And as I've said, that's absolutely false. It's easy to see how civilization has benefited and continues to benefit from hydrocarbon production refinery for medicines, transportation, production of food for the people of the planet. Canada is a leader in these technologies and best practices, and it behooves Manulife to continue to support Canadian-made, Canadian-produced hydrocarbon resources and I look forward to that continued to support in the future. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your comment. Manulife gives very careful consideration to our investments in energy, whether they be renewable energy or hydrocarbon based. We understand that there's a range of issues -- a range of views on these issues, and we'll be carefully monitoring that as we go forward. Do you have any further questions online?

No more questions.

Are there any further questions in the room? I want to make sure we have given everybody enough time. Well I see no more questions in the room and there are none online. So with that, I want to thank you all for attending and for your continued interest in Manulife. The meeting is now closed. Please have a wonderful day.