Following the release of the latest quarterly results of Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC), Moody’s Investors Service placed the insurer on review for possible downgrade.

The move from Moody’s follows Manulife’s announcement of a $2.4 billion net loss in the second quarter, “as well as the likelihood of a sizeable charge in [the third quarter] for unfavorable long-term care morbidity experience,” the rating agency said Thursday.

Moody’s said that the poor performance of Manulife’s U.S. long-term care block was not anticipated in its 2009 downgrades of the firm’s life insurance subsidiaries.

Mood’s said that the firm’s second quarter results were materially worse than the results of its peers, “due to its more sizeable unhedged exposure to variable annuity/segregated funds and its greater sensitivity to low interest rates on its long-tailed, guaranteed insurance liabilities.”