Manulife Financial Corporation announced today it expects to take charges in the third quarter ending Sept. 30 of US$165 million after tax for the losses relating to Hurricane Katrina.

Manulife Financial provides property catastrophe coverage to several direct insurers that begin to pay limited benefits when insured losses from a catastrophic event exceed US$20 billion, the company said in a release.

The charges of US$165 million have been estimated after a review of all reinsurance contracts in force and assumes that the full limit of each contract will be paid, it said. The company said it does not expect any significant level of claims will arise from its life insurance operations.

“The devastation of this hurricane was unfathomable,” said Dominic D’Alessandro, president and chief executive of Manulife Financial. “Manulife, John Hancock and our employees have made and are continuing to make significant contributions to the relief efforts to alleviate the distress affecting so many people. The financial impact to Manulife of the hurricane is within our risk management tolerance and does not change our financial strength.”