CEO.CA Chairman's Briefing

TORONTO, April 17, 2017 /CNW/ - Manulife Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs) have closed their initial offering of units and will begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange today. Manulife Investments will offer multifactor ETFs sub-advised by Dimensional Fund Advisors Canada ULC.

*Includes certain operating expenses

The indices that these ETFs are designed to track were developed by Dimensional, a pioneer of multifactor investing, using their time-tested multifactor approach and taking into account efficient implementation of those strategies into indices which could be passively managed, using Dimensional's proprietary Index Memory^TM* technique.

"What distinguishes Dimensional is our commitment to implementing the great ideas in finance," said Eduardo Repetto, Co-CEO, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP. "Decades of academic research into the factors that drive higher expected returns have found that in equity markets, relative performance among stocks largely depends on company size, relative price, and profitability. We have worked with Manulife to construct indexes that the ETFs seek to track which emphasize and balance those factors while managing investment costs."

"Our core strategy is to identify exceptional managers and offer value-added products to investors," said Bernard Letendre, President, Manulife Investments. "We took our time entering the ETF market to ensure we had a great value proposition for our clients and we believe we achieved this with this initial lineup of ETFs."

For more information, please visit Manulife.ca/etfs

* Index Memory is a trademark of Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

"Dimensional" refers to the Dimensional separate but affiliated entities generally, rather than to one particular entity. Dimensional Fund Advisors Canada ULC ("Dimensional Canada"), is sub-advisor to the Manulife ETFs. Dimensional Canada has certain provincial registrations, and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, an affiliate of and sub-advisor to Dimensional Canada, is an unregistered exempt international investment fund manager in certain provinces. There is no intention to offer or sell products or services in countries or jurisdictions by any Dimensional entity where such offer or sale would be unlawful under relevant domestic law. Neither Dimensional Canada nor its affiliates is affiliated with Manulife Investments or any of its affiliated entities.

Neither John Hancock Advisers, LLC nor Dimensional Fund Advisors LP guarantees the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Index or any data included therein, and neither John Hancock Advisers, LLC nor Dimensional Fund Advisors LP shall have any liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. Neither John Hancock Advisers, LLC nor Dimensional Fund Advisors LP makes any warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the fund, owners of the Units of the fund or any other person or entity from the use of the Index, trading based on the Index, or any data included therein, either in connection with the fund or for any other use. Neither John Hancock Advisers, LLC nor Dimensional Fund Advisors LP makes any express or implied warranties, and expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use with respect to the Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall John Hancock Advisers, LLC or Dimensional Fund Advisors LP have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect or consequential damages (including lost profits) arising out of matters relating to the use of the Index, even if notified of the possibility of such damages. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP receives compensation from Manulife in connection with licensing rights to the Indexes.  Dimensional Fund Advisors LP does not sponsor, endorse, or sell, and makes no representation as to the advisability of investing in, the Manulife ETFs.

Manulife ETFs are managed by Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited.  Commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with exchange traded funds (ETFs).  Investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other important information are contained in the prospectus, please read it before investing.  ETFs are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. 

About Manulife Investments

Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, builds on 125 years of Manulife's wealth and investment management expertise in managing assets for Canadian investors. As one of Canada's leading integrated financial services providers, Manulife Investments and its affiliates offer a variety of products and services including exchange traded funds, segregated fund contracts, mutual funds, annuities and guaranteed interest contracts.

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. At the end of 2016, we had $977 billion (US$728 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made almost $26 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

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