After two of the most difficult quarters in the history of Manulife Financial Corp., the company will focus on reducing risk while pursuing growth opportunities, said incoming president and CEO Donald Guloien at the company’s annual general meeting in Toronto on Thursday.

“Our focus is going to be on balancing our business mix, reducing risk and strengthening our capital levels,” he said, adding that risk management will be continuously and vigorously reinforced.

Manulife’s top priority will be maintaining a strong financial position, but Guloien said the firm would also continue to pursue an aggressive growth strategy. He expects significant consolidation within the financial services industry, which could present attractive opportunities for Manulife.

“We expect to benefit from that trend,” he said

Manulife will primarily focus on growth opportunities in North America and Asia in the near future, Guloien said, with sights set toward exploring growth prospects in Europe, India and other parts of the world further into the future.

Manulife will also expand and diversify its product offerings, Guloien said. He mentioned areas including banking services, 401(k) products in the U.S., fixed income, and others.

“I would like to see these offerings increased in both breadth and depth,” he said.

Guloien takes on the leadership role after five years as senior executive vice president and chief investment officer at Manulife.

“Donald is an accomplished leader,” said Dominic D’Alessandro, Manulife’s retiring president and CEO, at the meeting. “He is the right person to lead Manulife going forward.”

The meeting marked the final annual general meeting for D’Alessandro as president and CEO after 15 years in the position.

Gail Cook-Bennet, chair of Manulife’s board of directors, praised the leadership role that D’Alessandro has played: “Manulife today is a very different company than it was when he joined. He led Manulife’s transformation through significant organic growth and acquisitions.”

Shareholders approved the election of all 15 nominated directors at the meeting.They voted against two proposals by the Mouvement d’éducation et de défense des actionaires – an organization that aims to mobilize shareholders and improve corporate governance.

One proposal, suggesting that the board adopt a policy whereby 50% of new candidates to the board be female until parity is reached between men and women, received just 7.3% of shareholder support. A second proposal was to adopt a governance rule limiting the number of boards on which a director can serve to four. Of the voting shareholders, 95.9% voted against the proposal.