TORONTO – Today, Manulife announced a four-year, $400,000 partnership with the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of Waterloo. This investment will support Artificial Intelligence (AI) research in disability claim prediction as well as fraud detection and natural language comprehension in customer service.
“Customer expectations are evolving and are increasingly driven by the power of technology,” said Cindy Forbes, Executive Vice President and Chief Analytics Officer, Manulife. “This partnership with Canada’s top university in computer science and engineering is well matched with Manulife as we transform into a digital, customer-centric leader.”
In addition to funding research, this Manulife and UWaterloo partnership will help build the next generation of intelligent systems through the Institute’s partnership program. It will also fund two AI prizes – for each year of the partnership – to undergraduate students who have excelled in either their studies, research or leadership in AI fields.
“AI is proving to be one of the most important technologies of our time and will have a significant impact on our economy and the lives of Canadians,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo. “The University of Waterloo is committed to working with industry leaders like Manulife to ensure that we understand and benefit from the opportunities and impacts of this technology.”
Known as Canada’s Innovation University, the University of Waterloo is home to world-changing research and inspired teaching. Together, Manulife and UWaterloo plan to deepen their 30+ year relationship and find new ways to transform for customers in a digital world.
About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. We operate primarily 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 2017, we had about 35,000 employees, 73,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 26 million customers. As of June 30, 2018, we had over $1.1 trillion (US$849 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $27.6 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.
