Shareholders of John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. overwhelmingly endorsed the union with Manulife Financial Corp. today, marking another step in the merger process of the two insurance companies.

At a special meeting held earlier today in Washington, D.C., approximately 69% of total outstanding shares were present and voted with more than 95% of the votes cast favouring the adoption of the merger agreement, according to the preliminary tally. A positive vote by a majority of shares outstanding was required for the merger to be approved and 66% of all outstanding were voted in favour.

“Sometime in April, I expect we will be completing the largest cross-border transaction in Canadian history,” said Dominic D’Alessandro, president and CEO of Manulife Financial, in a news release.

Upon the closing of the deal, approximately 675,000 John Hancock common shareholders will receive 1.1853 Manulife common shares for each John Hancock common share.

The remaining approvals required for the merger are regulatory and include, among others, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Massachusetts Division of Insurance, the principal Canadian and United States insurance regulators for Manulife and John Hancock. “We look forward to completing our transaction and moving forward with our integration plans,” added D’Alessandro.

Combined, Manulife Financial, headquartered in Toronto and John Hancock of Boston with its Canadian subsidiary, Maritime Life of Halifax, will form the second largest life insurance company in North America, the fifth largest in the world, and the third largest publicly traded company in Canada, based on market capitalization as at February 20, 2004.