The company is one of 11 financial institutions working with IBF and MAS to pilot workforce development initiatives alongside the implementation of artificial intelligence.
(Singapore) Manulife Singapore on Friday (5 December) launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center of Excellence, with plans to expand its AI capabilities by expanding its talent pool.
Manulife said it will increase the number of people working in its AI talent base over the next three years, with recruitment primarily focused on data science, AI governance and AI engineering.
Through the AI Hub, Manulife seeks to continue developing AI tools to enhance key operations such as underwriting and customer service.
At the same time, we want to close the skills gap within the financial sector. One way is to offer internship and mentorship opportunities with Singapore’s higher education institutions to expose students to real-world AI applications in financial services.
But AI hubs aren’t just hiring talent, they’re also looking to upskill existing employees for more technical roles.
Manulife has been selected as one of 11 financial institutions to pilot workforce development initiatives alongside AI implementation in collaboration with the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Go Hanyan, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Communities, Youth, Sustainability and Environment, said at the launch: “Manulife Life Insurance Company has also embarked on a career transformation program managed by IBF to redesign the role of retail underwriters and retrain them to take advantage of AI tools that enhance risk analysis and decision-making.”
The company said its center of excellence will also leverage Singapore’s research institutes and industry bodies to “develop AI talent and improve the broader financial services sector.”
The company’s efforts to foster AI talent align with its operational goals of developing AI solutions.
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In Singapore, more than 75% of Manulife Life employees have already implemented AI in their work. Additionally, more than 200,000 prompts have been generated in Singapore this year, Manulife Singapore chief executive Benoît Meslet said in a speech at an event held at Manulife Tower.
Manulife also showcased several proprietary tools, including ChatMFC, an in-house large-scale language model aimed at improving employee productivity.
Similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, this model allows employees to upload documents for translation and summarization without the risk of data leakage.
Another product on display is an interactive visualization tool that provides near real-time insights to users. It is built on customer analytics records, a structured layer of curated customer data.
Manulife said the AI hub will develop use cases across various functions within the company, including underwriting, operations and customer experience.
“AI helps our teams respond to customers faster and provide better advice, while saving time so our employees can serve customers with a human touch,” Meslet said.
However, as AI applications increase within Manulife, the company emphasized the importance of responsible AI use.
“Our enterprise AI strategy is focused on responsible innovation, governance and impact,” said Mark Chakovsky, Chief AI Officer, Manulife Asia.
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