Manulife Selects Akka to Operationalize Agentic AI within its Enterprise AI Platform

Rhea-AI Summary

Manulife (NYSE:MFC) selected Akka to operationalize agentic AI within its enterprise AI platform, aiming to strengthen security, reliability, and performance as the platform expands across the business.

The platform is in beta and Manulife expects AI to generate $1 billion+ of enterprise value by 2027, with roughly one‑fifth from efficiency gains.

Positive

• $1B+ enterprise value from AI expected by 2027
• Platform in beta for enterprise agentic AI deployment
• Partnership with Akka provides durable, highly available runtime
• Responsible AI principles embedded across platform design

Negative

• Forward‑looking value and benefits remain subject to execution risk
• Outcomes depend on regulatory changes to AI laws and rules
• Reliance on third‑party vendors exposes platform to integration risks

Key Figures

Expected AI value: $1 billion+ Efficiency contribution: one-fifth AI investing start: 2016 +2 more

5 metrics

Expected AI value $1 billion+ Manulife’s projected enterprise value from AI by 2027

Efficiency contribution one-fifth Portion of expected AI value tied to improved efficiency

AI investing start 2016 Year Manulife began actively investing in and scaling AI capabilities

AI value build period three years Recent period of significantly increased value from advanced analytics and AI

Akka experience 15 years Akka’s enterprise scale and regulated industry experience cited in the release

Market Reality Check

Price: $33.40 Vol: Volume 3,057,921 is below...

normal vol

$33.40 Last Close

Volume Volume 3,057,921 is below the 20-day average of 3,530,990, suggesting no outsized pre-news positioning. normal

Technical Shares at $33.40 are trading slightly above the 200-day MA of $33.25, and about 13.74% below the 52-week high.

Peers on Argus

MFC was down 0.83% while key life insurance peers showed mostly small gains (e.g...

MFC was down 0.83% while key life insurance peers showed mostly small gains (e.g., MET +0.11%, AFL +0.08%, UNM , GL +0.83%), indicating this AI partnership read as more company-specific than sector-driven.

Previous AI Reports

4 past events · Latest: Dec 22 (Positive)

Same Type Pattern 4 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Dec 22	AI platform partnership	Positive	+1.0%	Multi-year Adaptive ML deal for reinforcement learning within enterprise AI platform.
Oct 22	AI safety sponsorship	Positive	+0.3%	Sponsorship of Hinton Lectures on AI Safety, reinforcing Responsible AI governance.
Jun 23	AI maturity ranking	Positive	+2.1%	Named #1 life insurer for AI maturity in Evident AI Index for Insurance.
May 22	AI strategy update	Positive	+0.6%	Showcased Responsible AI Principles and extensive GenAI use cases at industry summit.

Pattern Detected

Past AI-related announcements have been followed by modestly positive one-day moves, suggesting investors have generally viewed Manulife’s AI strategy favorably.

Recent Company History

Over the past year, Manulife’s AI-related news has focused on building an enterprise platform and emphasizing Responsible AI. A Dec 22, 2025 deal with Adaptive ML targeted reinforcement-learning optimization, while earlier announcements highlighted thought leadership, top ranking for AI maturity, and dozens of GenAI use cases. Those events saw one-day moves between about 0.3% and 2.1%, framing today’s Akka partnership as another step in scaling governed, production-grade AI capabilities across the franchise.

Historical Comparison

+1.0% avg move · AI-tagged news for MFC has historically produced average one-day moves of about 0.99%, with prior up...

AI

+1.0%

Average Historical Move AI

AI-tagged news for MFC has historically produced average one-day moves of about 0.99%, with prior updates focused on platform build-out, governance, and external AI recognition.

AI news shows a progression from articulating Responsible AI principles and early GenAI use cases to external recognition for AI maturity and now deeper platform partnerships with Adaptive ML and Akka.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement extends Manulife’s enterprise AI build-out by adding Akka’s secure, scalable runti...

Analysis

This announcement extends Manulife’s enterprise AI build-out by adding Akka’s secure, scalable runtime to its in‑beta agentic AI platform. Combined with earlier moves like adopting Adaptive ML, it underscores a focus on governance, reliability, and Responsible AI. Historically, AI-tagged news has led to modestly positive stock reactions averaging about 0.99%. Observers may watch for concrete deployment metrics, realized efficiency gains toward the projected $1 billion+ in value by 2027, and continued alignment with regulatory expectations.

Key Terms

agentic ai, ai agents, reinforcement-learning-powered engine, responsible ai, +1 more

5 terms

agentic ai technical

"Manulife announced today that Akka has been selected as its latest partner supporting the development of its enterprise agentic AI platform."

Agentic AI refers to computer systems that can make their own decisions and take actions without needing someone to tell them what to do each time. It's like giving a robot a degree of independence to solve problems or achieve goals on its own, which matters because it could change how we work and interact with technology in everyday life.

ai agents technical

"provides a secure, integrated foundation for building and deploying AI agents – intelligent systems that understand tasks"

AI agents are computer programs designed to perform tasks or make decisions automatically, often by learning from data and adapting to new information. They act like virtual assistants or robots that can handle complex activities without human intervention, which can help businesses and individuals save time and improve efficiency. For investors, AI agents matter because they can enhance decision-making and automate processes that influence markets and financial outcomes.

reinforcement-learning-powered engine technical

"Adaptive ML would provide the reinforcement-learning-powered engine for finetuning and optimizing models"

A reinforcement-learning-powered engine is a software system that learns to make better decisions by trying actions, seeing the results, and favoring choices that lead to desirable outcomes—similar to how a player learns a game by practice and rewards. For investors, it matters because these engines can automate and improve tasks such as trading, pricing, or targeting customers, potentially boosting returns or cutting costs, but they can also create operational risk and unpredictable behavior that affects performance.

responsible ai technical

"Manulife's partnership with Akka reinforces its commitment to Responsible AI and sustainability"

Responsible AI means designing, testing and running automated decision systems so they are safe, fair, explainable and follow laws and privacy rules. For investors it matters because responsible AI reduces the chances of costly errors, regulatory fines, data breaches or reputational damage, and helps ensure products perform reliably over time—think of it as safety checks and clear instructions you put on a new machine before letting it operate at scale.

operational slas technical

"Their focus on orchestration, safety, operational SLAs, and system reliability reflects exactly the kind of rigor"

Operational SLAs are formal promises that specify how well a company's core services or systems must perform—such as uptime, response times, or resolution speed—and what happens if those targets are missed. Investors care because these commitments affect customer satisfaction, legal or financial penalties, and the risk of lost revenue or reputation; they act like a performance scorecard that can signal operational reliability and predictability.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

Akka to provide a secure and scalable software foundation to build trusted AI-powered business applications

TORONTO and SAN FRANCISCO, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife announced today that Akka has been selected as its latest partner supporting the development of its enterprise agentic AI platform. By bringing Akka's durable and highly available runtime into the ecosystem, Manulife will strengthen the platform's security, reliability, and performance as it embeds AI into critical workflows and expands adoption across the organization.

"Our insurance and investment businesses are built on trust, and that same principle guides our approach to AI," said Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer for Manulife. "As we explore technologies that can help us scale reliable, compliant and resilient AI systems, solutions like Akka illustrate how enterprises can build and operate agentic systems with the speed, predictability, and governance required in highly regulated environments. Their focus on orchestration, safety, operational SLAs, and system reliability reflects exactly the kind of rigor that supports responsible AI and consistent customer value."

Manulife's enterprise AI platform, now in beta testing, provides a secure, integrated foundation for building and deploying AI agents – intelligent systems that understand tasks, help make decisions, and take action to support customers and colleagues. The platform streamlines development, reduces operational costs, and enables high volume, business critical AI solutions, all while embedding strong governance, safeguards, and Responsible AI practices.

"Partnering with a leader like Manulife is an honour for us, and it's a testament to our 15 years of enterprise scale and regulated industry experience," said Tyler Jewell, CEO of Akka. "The Manulife team demonstrates the rare understanding of what it really takes to deliver agentic AI on a global scale. Without consistent engineering practices that address a complex and continually changing set of environment factors, AI systems, which are inherently random, will not be trusted to deliver business outcomes."

Manulife's partnership with Akka reinforces its commitment to Responsible AI and sustainability as outlined in its publicly available Responsible AI Principles. By leveraging Akka's solution for its AI platform, Manulife will:

• Prioritize customer, colleague, and organizational safety through sound delivery and governance processes.
• Design energy-efficient AI solutions that require less infrastructure to run and maintain.
• Build AI solutions that are explainable and reliable, while maintaining the appropriate human accountability for decision making.

"Manulife is embedding AI across nearly every part of our business while equipping our colleagues with the capabilities to design, operate, and scale solutions," said Shamus Weiland, Global Chief Information Officer at Manulife. "Akka provides a secure, scalable software foundation to support high volumes of business applications to accelerate meaningful value creation across our franchise. This partnership is rooted in our Responsible AI Principles, with a strong focus on governance, human oversight, and safety, as we advance toward becoming an AI-powered organization."

In December 2025, Manulife announced that Adaptive ML would provide the reinforcement-learning-powered engine for finetuning and optimizing models within its enterprise AI platform.

In June 2025, Manulife was named the #1 life insurance company for AI maturity in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Insurance, reinforcing the company's commitment to innovation and customer-centric solutions. Manulife has been actively investing in and scaling AI capabilities since 2016. In the past three years, the firm has significantly increased the value enabled through advanced analytics and AI by expanding its AI solutions portfolio and increasing efficiency through data and AI platform investments¹, all driven by the company's responsible AI framework. Manulife expects AI to generate $1 billion+ of enterprise value by 2027, with roughly one-fifth expected to come from improved efficiency.

To learn more about Manulife's AI progress, visit AI @ Manulife.

__________________________

1 The benefits from our global digital, customer leadership initiatives include expense saves, growth absorption, revenue benefits (margin businesses) and new business CSM growth (insurance).

Caution regarding forward-looking statements
This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbour" provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to Manulife's use of its digital capabilities and the expected benefits it expects to realize from AI. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to general business and economic conditions; changes in laws and regulations with respect to the use of AI-enabled tools; our ability to execute our digital plans and to deploy future digital use cases; our ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; our ability to attract and retain key employees and our ability to protect our intellectual property and exposure to claims of infringement from others. Additional information about material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations may be found in our most recent annual and interim reports and elsewhere in our filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

The forward-looking statements in this document are, unless otherwise indicated, stated as of the date hereof. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Anchored in our ambition to be the number one choice for customers, we operate as Manulife across Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice, insurance and health solutions for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment solutions, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2025, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 106,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 37 million customers with operations across 25 markets globally. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and Philippine stock exchanges, and under '945' on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

About Akka
Akka is the platform to create agentic AI systems that continuously build trust and never fail. Used by industry giants and digital native enterprises alike, Akka provides the safe, scalable, and sovereign backbone for AI-native systems. Learn more at akka.io.

Media contact

Manulife:
Gina Simonis
gsimonis@manulife.com
617-840-4794

Akka:
Nichols Communications for Akka
Ray George
+1 650 922 3825
ray@nicholscomm.com

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SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation

FAQ

What did Manulife (MFC) announce on March 10, 2026 about Akka?

Manulife announced it selected Akka to operationalize agentic AI within its enterprise AI platform. According to the company, Akka will provide a durable, highly available runtime to improve security, reliability, and performance for business‑critical AI solutions.

How much enterprise value does Manulife (MFC) expect AI to generate and by when?

Manulife expects AI to generate more than $1 billion of enterprise value by 2027. According to the company, roughly one‑fifth of that value is expected to come from improved efficiency.

What stage is Manulife's enterprise AI platform in as of March 10, 2026?

The enterprise AI platform is currently in beta testing. According to the company, the beta aims to streamline development, reduce operational costs, and support high‑volume, business‑critical AI agents.

What does the Akka partnership mean for Manulife's AI governance and safety?

The partnership reinforces Manulife's focus on governance, safety, and Responsible AI. According to the company, Akka's orchestration and operational SLAs support human oversight and operational safeguards.

Did Manulife name other partners for its AI platform prior to Akka?

Yes. In December 2025 Manulife announced Adaptive ML for reinforcement‑learning‑powered fine‑tuning and model optimization. According to the company, Adaptive ML complements the platform's model optimization capabilities.

What risks did Manulife (MFC) highlight about its AI plans on March 10, 2026?

Manulife cautioned that forward‑looking AI benefits are subject to risks like execution, regulatory changes, IP exposure, and talent retention. According to the company, actual results may differ materially from expectations.