Irshad rejoined the Canadian financial services group on 26 May and is responsible for the overall development of Manulife's business operations in Singapore that spans across the life insurance, wealth management and retirement solutions segments.
He replaces former CEO Annette King who is now in charge of a newly-created regional role. Based in Hong Kong, she is responsible for client strategies, brand, communications and corporate events in the Asia region.
Based in Toronto, Irshad was most recently a part of a global accounts team of an American reinsurer, RGA International Corporation, where he was a senior vice president, global accounts.
With more than 20 years of experience in global life insurance industry, he has worked with Manulife for 16 years in a variety of business roles in Toronto and Boston. Just prior to leaving Manulife in 2011, he was senior vice president, product and insurance risk management, responsible for new product and insurance risk, globally.
As of March-end, Manulife and its subsidiaries had assets under management worth C$635bn ($574bn).
