Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) stock fell 1.58% (As on May 11, 11:29:36 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company reported a quarterly profit that missed analysts’ estimates as the Canadian insurer attracted less capital from investors spooked by market volatility amid the recent crisis in the banking sector. Global markets were whipsawed in March by the biggest crisis to hit the banking sector since 2008, fueling volatility across asset classes and driving investors towards safe-haven assets.

MFC in the first quarter of FY 23 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 79 Canadian cents, missing the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of  80 Canadian cents, according to Refinitiv data. The company had a net income of $1.4-billion attributed to shareholders in the first quarter in its first results under new accounting standards. It says profits were up about $100-million from its transitional net income last year, which reflects what last year’s results would have been under the new standards. Manulife reported core earnings of $489-million for its Asia division in the quarter, down from a transitional net income of $479-million last year. Its Canadian division had core earnings of $353-million, up from a transitional net income of $334-million last year, while its U.S. division saw core earnings of $385-million, up from $293-million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, in Asia, the company continued to leverage our health and wellness platform, ManulifeMOVE, to drive incremental sales, with over 50% of our in-force eligible customers having activated the ManulifeMOVE app, of which 38% have made a subsequent insurance purchase. In Canada, the company partnered with Cleveland Clinic Canada using their global healthcare expertise to enhance product offerings and services to the five million group benefits customers by providing industry research, thought leadership, and education materials. In the U.S., the company continued to innovate the customer wellness offerings by expanding access to GRAIL’s Galleri multi-cancer early detection test to all eligible life insurance customers who have registered with the John Hancock Vitality PLUS program.

In addition, the company continued to make progress on our digital journey in 1Q23. In Asia, the company further accelerated user adoption of the customer website in Vietnam by implementing additional servicing features and user interface improvements to enhance the customer experience, with the proportion of active users increasing 29 percentage points from 1Q22 to 37% at the end of 1Q23, materially contributing to an increase of 10 percentage points in servicing straight-through-processing for the segment.