Manulife Vitality program now offering Apple Watch, encouraging members to live a more active lifestyle

Manulife is the first life insurer in Canada to reward members for making healthy choices and being active

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WATERLOO, ON, Oct. 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Manulife today announced the launch of its new Manulife Vitality Active Rewards with Apple Watch program, a further enhancement to the Manulife Vitality program. The program motivates Canadians who have purchased Manulife Vitality program linked life insurance, to get more active by offering them the opportunity to earn Vitality points and get Apple Watch Series 1, Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS) and Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) when they meet physical activity targets through their insurance contract.

Manulife redefined life insurance in 2016 with the introduction of the Manulife Vitality program, which allows members to save significantly on their premiums and earn valuable rewards by taking small steps to live healthy lives, like walking, exercising or getting regular check-ups.

"By growing our Manulife Vitality program and offering it to new and existing members, we are continuing our promise of helping Canadians to live a long, healthy, active and fulfilled life," said Michael Doughty, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Canada. "By offering Apple Watch, we are helping Canadians be active and live healthier today, while aiming to protect their financial future."

"The data from U.S. Apple Watch users is encouraging – we've motivated Vitality members to be more active, with the number of active days per week increasing by 40 per cent," said Tal Gilbert, CEO of Vitality Group USA. "Not only have we seen people getting more active, we've seen the largest increases in the most at-risk populations, and we've seen those improvements persist over time with the program running for over a year now."

Get Apple Watch. Get Active. Get Rewarded.
Through the Manulife Vitality Active Rewards with Apple Watch program, members who want to participate simply sign up, choose their Apple Watch, pay an initial activation fee (plus tax), and then receive an Apple Watch to get started. Whether they like to walk, run, bike, swim or hit the gym, it's easy for participants to track their activities and earn Vitality Points that go towards monthly payments for their watch over two years. Members will be able to fund their Apple Watch by meeting monthly Vitality Active Rewards targets that are achievable over 24 months.

John Hancock Vitality life insurance also expands Apple Watch Program – Part of global initiative to encourage healthy living of policyholders
Today, Manulife's U.S. division, John Hancock also announced an expansion of its Vitality program. It is expanding the Apple Watch program, launched last year, to all new and existing John Hancock Vitality life insurance policyholders. Now, in addition to permanent life insurance buyers, the four million Americans who buy lower-cost term life insurance every year will have the opportunity to protect their financial future for less than $15/month¹, while earning an Apple Watch, for achieving monthly physical activity goals and making healthy lifestyle choices.

¹ Varies based on age, amount of coverage, underwriting status and term period selected.

For further information on the Manulife Vitality Active Rewards with Apple Watch program, please visit: Manulife.ca/Vitality or for advisors, Repsource.ca/Vitality.

About Vitality
Vitality changes the economics of healthcare by integrating expertise in wellness, insurance, and technology to change behaviors to improve health. By driving engagement in healthier lifestyles, Vitality provides benefits from day one to members, employers, and society. Vitality brings a global perspective through successful partnerships with employers of all sizes and best-in-class insurers around the world, in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Africa, China, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan. Drawing on behavioral economics, Vitality supports, guides and incentivizes individuals to improve their health, and then prices their risk dynamically over time based on their engagement in the Vitality program. This shared value insurance model results in material benefits shared between the employer (lower health claims), insurer (more profits), members (greater health and financial rewards) and society (a healthier, more productive workforce).

Vitality Group is a member of Discovery Ltd., a global financial service organization and pioneer of the Shared-value Insurance model. The Vitality program currently serves more than 7 million members in 14 countries around the world with plans to launch in an additional 10 markets over the next two years. For more information about Vitality Group, please visit www.thevitalitygroup.com and follow on Twitter: @VitalityUSA.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers' needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2016, we had approximately 35,000 employees, 70,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 22 million customers. As of June 30, 2017, we had over $1 trillion (US$780 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $26.7 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation