As I reflect on my first year as Chair, and on behalf of the entire Board, I'm incredibly proud of the progress we have made and the opportunity ahead as we begin 2024. Under the leadership of Roy Gori and the Executive Leadership Team, Manulife today is a very different company than it was six years ago.
The strategy introduced in 2018 has served us tremendously well in navigating the pandemic and a volatile macroeconomic backdrop. Our enviable geographic footprint, diverse business, and most importantly, our winning team and values-based culture have helped us stay resilient as we become a higher-growth and less capital-intensive business. Roy and Manulife’s 38,000 colleagues have pursued Manulife’s ambition tenaciously, achieving significant momentum in 2023.
Our continued focus on execution has helped us deliver strong financial results, including double-digit growth in key topline metrics, and also another year of positive net flows generated by Global WAM. Our milestone year was underscored by our historic reinsurance transaction, which will release $1.2 billion of capital to shareholders, bringing our cumulative total capital released to shareholders to over $10 billion pro forma since 2018. Our results have contributed to our position as the top performer in our peer group with 28 percent total shareholder return on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
2023 was also marked by the impact that we have on our customers, communities, and colleagues.
Manulife is committed to empowering customers to live longer, healthier, and better lives, and we are focused not only on improving how long people live but how well they live. In Canada, we expanded our Personalized Medicine program to all Group Benefits extended healthcare plans in 2023. By making the service available to more customers, we are also enabling them to learn about medications that best meet their needs and work with healthcare providers on customized treatment plans that can lead to better outcomes.
As the world's largest institutional manager of natural capital, consisting of nature-based assets, such as timber and agriculture that benefit our world and our business, sustainability is core to our values. In 2023, we were appointed to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index, ranking in the 93rd percentile of its GICS® Industry Group, and we were one of only eight insurers across North America to be included in the index overall.
Within our communities, we worked to build a better business and world through our Impact Agenda. Through a partnership with Kiva, a global not-for-profit organization that crowdfunds loans, we supported borrowers like Roeurm, a Cambodian farmer and mother of two who aspires to grow her business and fix up her home. To accomplish that, she needed help purchasing more seeds and fertilizer to keep her farm going. Our partnership enables both.
As we ended the year, we asked our colleagues to share their stories of how they connect to our mission, either personally or professionally. The response has been outstanding, with hundreds of submissions from every corner of the organization. You can see some of them highlighted on our website.
Board Activities
The Board oversees the long-term success of the company, and our activities across 2023 focused on supporting and guiding the leadership team as they made decisions easier and lives better for colleagues, customers, and communities while driving total shareholder return.
We remain focused on providing guidance to the leadership team and spent significant time on stakeholder outreach, meeting with shareholders and industry organizations to understand and draw on their perspectives on what matters most.
This year, we came together for our annual Board strategy offsite in Hong Kong and visited four additional markets across Asia. It was exciting to have the entire Board in Asia again, and during our time there, we saw firsthand the vibrant market dynamics, including the mainland Chinese visitors traffic in Hong Kong. Our strong presence, team, and capabilities on the ground all give us confidence in capturing the tremendous opportunities across the region.
Succession planning is always a key priority for the Board, but it is particularly top of mind for us with six Board members either having completed or completing their terms over a two-year period between 2023 and 2025. We are delighted to welcome Mike Durland and Don Kanak to the Board. These accomplished executives bring a mix of deep experience in insurance, Asia, audit, and risk. Their expertise will be valuable to the Board as Manulife continues to transform itself in this complex geopolitical and macroeconomic environment. In 2024, Mike Durland and Don Kanak joined the Board in March and Anna Manning and John Wong will join in May at our Annual Meeting.
Thank you
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Manulife colleagues for their resilience, creativity, and passion. Thank you to Roy and the Executive Leadership Team for their leadership anchored in a shared commitment to embracing a change mindset and moving with speed and urgency.
To our two Board members who retire this year, Andrea Rosen and Tsun-yan Hsieh, who both joined the Board in 2011: we greatly appreciate your years of dedication and many contributions to Manulife during significant transformation.
Finally, thank you to our fellow shareholders and our customers for your continued trust and support. I look forward to what we will achieve together in 2024 and beyond.
