The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that on Monday, Manulife Financial agreed to reinsure $5.8-billion of reserves from its Canadian Universal Life block to reduce risk and improve shareholder returns. The Globe's Clare O'Hara writes that the deal with RGA Life Reinsurance Company of Canada is expected to generate $800-million of capital, which Manulife intends to use to buy back share. Chief executive officer Roy Gori said the insurer has released $11-billion of capital since 2018 and improved the core return on equity by about 5 per cent since 2017. Manulife has been seeking to cut risk in its insurance portfolio and focus on profitable areas for growth. In December, it signed a $13-billion deal to reinsure its long-term care business reserves. Mr. Gori added, "We remain highly focused on exploring additional organic and inorganic actions to deliver value to shareholders." A contract between a reinsurer and an insurer typically reduces the risk for the latter, allowing it to, in some cases, remain solvent by recovering a part of the payout and in others, transfer the risk of the business to create fresh capital. The transaction marks the third large reinsurance deal between Manulife and RGA.