By Adriano Marchese


Manulife Financial has appointed Phil Witherington as president and chief executive of the company's Asia unit as it looks to accelerate growth in the region.

The Canadian insurer and financial services provider said late Thursday that Witherington will head up Manulife Asia starting on July 1, taking over the role from Damien Green who will now chair Manulife Financial Asia.

The two will work together for a period to ensure a smooth transition, Manulife said.

Witherington was Manulife's chief financial officer since 2017, and before that served as Manulife Asia's CFO since 2014.

Prior to his time at the company, he was the Asia-Pacific head of finance for retail banking and wealth management at HSBC.

Manulife maintains a large presence in Asia, operating in 10 markets including Mainland China, Japan and Indonesia, and the company said the leadership change is meant to accelerate growth in the region as well as its financial performance globally.

In the role of CFO for the U.S. and General Account, Witherington will be replaced by Colin Simpson.

Simpson has been with Manulife since November and has been a part of the company's U.S. segment's strategic push, including optimizing the segment's portfolio, expense and capital efficiency and growth.

Simpson was previously serving as interim group CFO at British insurance company Aviva, and CFO for Aviva Canada before that.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-16-23 0652ET