John Hancock Life Insurance Company, U.S.A. is a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

-based

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

company. Established April 21, 1862, it was named in honor of

John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the ...

, a prominent American

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

. In 2004, John Hancock was acquired by the Canadian multinational life insurance company

Manulife Financial Manulife Financial Corporation (also known as Financière Manuvie in Quebec) is a Canadian multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company operates in Canada and Asia as "Manulife" an ...

. It operates as an independent subsidiary. The company and the majority of Manulife's U.S. assets continue to operate under the John Hancock name.

History

On April 21, 1862, the charter of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company was approved by

John A. Andrew John Albion Andrew (May 31, 1818 – October 30, 1867) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He was elected in 1860 as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts, serving between 1861 and 1866, and led the state's contributions to ...

, governor of Massachusetts. There was not always a standardization for how the company name has been referenced. For example, a John Hancock advertisement from 1912 refers to the company as "John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company," but some John Hancock advertisements and newspaper articles from the 1930s refer to it as the "John Hancock Life Insurance Company." However, 1940s sources again refer to the company as the "John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company." In 1972, Dr. Mary Ella Robertson was named as the first black woman and first female to serve on the John Hancock Board. In 2000, led by David F. D'Alessandro, the company "demutualized," meaning that "John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company" formally ceased to exist, and a new company named "John Hancock Financial Services, Inc." came into existence. Policyholders received shares in the new company in exchange for giving up ownership in the old. Life insurance continued to be sold by an entity known as the "John Hancock Variable Life Insurance Company", a subsidiary of John Hancock Financial Services Inc. On January 27, 2000, shares of Hancock stock started to trade on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

under the

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

JHF. On September 29, 2003,

of Canada announced its intent to acquire John Hancock for $10.4 billion. The merged entity would be led by D'Alessandro, but he would step down in June 2004. The sale also included a Canadian subsidiary of John Hancock,

Maritime Life The Maritime Life Assurance Company was a Canadian insurance company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was founded in 1922 and in 2004 it became fully integrated with Manulife Financial, with the Maritime Life brand being retired. In 2004 ...

; it was integrated into Manulife's Canadian operations.

Headquarters

The headquarters and its 1,100 employees are based in 200 Berkeley Street, sometimes known as the "Old John Hancock Building" and 197 Clarendon Street. John Hancock no longer has a presence in the Back Bay tower at 200 Clarendon Street, still known by many Bostonians as the Hancock Tower. The company was headquartered at 601 Congress Street in the

Seaport District The Seaport District, or simply the Seaport, is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. It is part of the larger neighborhood of South Boston, and is also sometimes called the Innovation District. The Seaport is a formerly industrial area that ...

from 2005 to 2018, when it consolidated with offices it had retained in the

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...

Investor Sentiment Index

John Hancock created an index called the "John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index" in 2011. The company describes the index as a "quarterly measure of investors' views on a range of investment choices, life goals and economic outlook."

Leadership

In October 2017, Marianne Harrison became the first female president and chief executive officer of John Hancock. She earned a reported $4.4 million in compensation in 2017.

References

External links