JOHN HANCOCK MALAYSIA SHAREHOLDERS SACK PRESIDENT AND CEO

Shareholders in John Hancock Life Insurance (Malaysia) voted today to sack the company’s president and CEO John Ng Kim Hoong. The decision followed “deterioration of the company’s market share and other key aspects of the life assurance business”, according to the company. Mr Ng, who was also removed as managing director and director, is pursuing a defamation suit against the firm and may also sue for breach of contract. He claimed that “I’m being victimised for decisions made before my time. My contract is a very open-ended one and does not specify that I had to meet targets set by the board”. Mr Ng is suing the Malaysian company, the chairman of US-based John Hancock International Holdings Inc and the managing director of John Hancock International (Southeast Asia) for up to $15.8m.