Manulife's Canadian bank "contributing strongly"

By Lynne Olver

TORONTO (Reuters) - Manulife Bank of Canada, a growing unit of international life insurer Manulife Financial (MFC.TO: Quote), has started "contributing strongly" to the Canadian division's bottom line, the head of the division said on Wednesday.

The branchless chartered bank, established in 1993, is becoming more significant as loan volumes grow, Paul Rooney, president and chief executive of Manulife Canada, told a financial services conference.

Manulife Bank's net income jumped 32 percent to C$39.6 million in the six months ended June 30, up from C$30 million a year earlier, according to data from Canada's federal banking regulator.

"In the second quarter alone, we had lending volume of over C$1 billion, it's growing about C$1 billion a quarter now," Rooney said at the annual Scotia Capital financial services conference.

The bank's focus is on helping Canadian financial advisers, primarily with its Manulife One product, Rooney said.

Manulife One is a home-collateralized credit line combined with a mortgage, checking and savings accounts, and is billed as a way to reduce interest costs.

Sales of the product have gone up dramatically since Manulife began an advertising campaign, Rooney said.

Unlike countries such as Australia, Canada is in the "infancy stages" of developing a single bank account product and Manulife plans to keep developing that area, he said, noting that it is a key tool for bringing in new business.