John Hancock, the U.S. division of global insurer Manulife, has unveiled a key innovation behind its upgraded underwriting strategy—a customized and integrated version of Munich Re’s rapid risk assessment platform, alitheia.
Hector Martinez, Head of John Hancock Insurance, said the collaboration between two industry leaders in AI has resulted in a unique solution designed to improve efficiency, speed, and the overall experience for both clients and advisors.
“This partnership allows us to enhance the buying journey for our customers while simplifying the process for advisors,” Martinez told InsuranceNewsNet. “We’ve also expanded ExpressTrack eligibility to include face amounts up to $5 million, giving more John Hancock clients access to a faster, streamlined underwriting experience.”
Next-generation underwriting powered by alitheia
Launched in 2023, alitheia was developed to modernizing and streamline the insurance underwriting process. Since then, it has evolved significantly into a fast, flexible, and highly customizable solution.
“Alitheia is built by a team of underwriters, data scientists, and engineers working collaboratively,” said Adnan Haque, VP of Integrated Analytics at Munich Re. “This approach enables rapid development, continuous improvement, and the ability to meet both current and future industry needs.”
Recently, the platform received U.S. patents for its technology-driven underwriting and use of natural language processing to analyze free-form text responses. These advancements allow alitheia to function as a standalone solution, paving the way for more partnerships with insurers like John Hancock.
“Our team tailors the process for each carrier,” Haque explained. “With John Hancock, alitheia is being used to simplify the application process, speed up underwriting decisions, and ultimately make it easier for customers to buy insurance.”
A perfect partnership powered by AI
The collaboration between Munich Re and John Hancock is a natural fit, as both companies are committed not only to adopting technology but also to leading innovation in the industry.
Munich Re brings extensive experience with AI partnerships, while John Hancock’s parent company, Manulife, is recognized as a technology frontrunner—recently ranking among the top five global insurers for AI implementation in Evident’s AI Insurance Index.
“We appreciate alitheia’s strong track record of delivering some of the highest instant offer rates in the industry, and it has been rewarding to work with Munich Re to tailor alitheia in a way that aligns with our trusted underwriting approach,” said Martinez.
An upgraded platform
According to Haque, Munich Re created the upgraded version of alitheia used by John Hancock in response to client feedback. While clients appreciated the platform’s advanced risk assessment models and machine learning capabilities, they sought “greater flexibility and control over their programs.”
“The enhanced version reflects this by providing a flexible solution that can adapt to the evolving insurance landscape and the specific needs of each carrier,” Haque explained.
For example, the platform features:
- Customizable rules designer: Enables carriers to apply their own underwriting rules while optionally incorporating updates from Munich Re.
- Underwriting workbench: Simplifies the underwriting process through an intuitive interface that boosts efficiency and improves decision accuracy.
- Risk assessment models: Utilize AI, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP), supported by stringent AI governance standards.
- Integration: Provides seamless compatibility with carriers’ existing systems and various third-party data sources, including clinical labs and electronic health records.
John Hancock integrates alitheia with its proprietary ExpressTrack individual life underwriting system to enhance its capabilities.
“We’ve embedded alitheia’s models—such as automated electronic health record evaluations and advanced risk assessment tools—into ExpressTrack to deliver faster, more accurate, and non-invasive underwriting decisions,” Martinez explained.
Processing medical data
A key feature that sets alitheia apart is its ability to process complex medical data and evaluate it alongside other factors to generate a meaningful risk score. While other underwriting platforms aim for fast, accurate assessments and sometimes automated decisions, none handle medical data quite like alitheia.
According to Haque, alitheia’s newly patented NLP models “interpret freeform text responses from applications and link them to a medical lexicon, allowing more cases to be processed instantly.” Additionally, its integration with electronic health records (EHRs) enables swift and reliable evaluations.
“Our patented technology smartly determines when and how to retrieve and sequence digital third-party data—such as EHRs and clinical information—in real time, which can reduce costs and turnaround times while maintaining the accuracy of risk assessments,” Haque explained.
Munich Re has long viewed electronic health records (EHRs) as “underutilized” within the insurance industry. To address this, they partnered with health data network Clareto in May 2024 to launch an Automated EHR Summarizer. At that time, the company promised further innovations—and alitheia appears to be delivering on that commitment.
Haque explained that the platform leverages large language models (LLMs) to analyze unstructured data in EHRs, such as clinical notes. This information is then integrated into rule-based assessments, which Munich Re says helps preserve underwriter expertise and maintain regulatory confidence.
“The system incorporates safeguards to identify missing or low-confidence data, ensuring those cases are flagged for manual review to uphold the integrity of decisions,” Haque noted.
John Hancock is a division of Manulife, one of Canada’s oldest and most respected insurance and financial services companies. Founded in 1887, Manulife operates in over 19 countries and territories worldwide.
Munich Re, headquartered in Delaware, is a global property and casualty reinsurance firm. Established in 1957, it offers reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions across the globe.
