Company Press Release

BOSTON, Oct 04, 2010 -- John Hancock Funds has announced its fourth new fund launch of the year, the John Hancock Currency Strategies Fund (JCUAX). The new fund is now available for sale to retail investors through their financial advisers.

The decision to develop and launch the new fund grew from lessons learned in the aftermath of the 2008 market turmoil, said John Hancock Funds President Keith F. Hartstein.

"Our recent product development initiatives have placed a premium on finding non-correlated investment strategies that can complement existing portfolios while offering a layer of diversification," he said. "An example of this strategy was the launch earlier this year of the Strategic Income Opportunities Fund, an unconstrained version of our popular Strategic Income Fund, and the newest example is today's announcement regarding the John Hancock Currency Strategies Fund. "Once we identify an investment strategy that we believe will fill a need in the market, our unique sub-advisory business model affords us the luxury of seeking out best-in-class institutional asset managers to manage that strategy," added Mr. Hartstein. "We are very pleased to welcome First Quadrant, one of the premier institutional managers of currency assets, to our roster of 12 world-class sub-advisers."

The John Hancock Currency Strategies Fund seeks to generate positive returns over all market cycles by making diversified investments in global currencies in order to take advantage of market anomalies. The Fund primarily uses short-term forward currency contracts on developed market currencies to achieve its goals. The sub-adviser to the fund, First Quadrant, LP, of Pasadena, California, manages approximately $6.3 billion in currency strategies, and has been managing currency assets since 1992. First Quadrant partners Ken Ferguson, PhD, and Dori Levanoni are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the new Fund. Mr. Ferguson has been a quantitative manager at First Quadrant since 1994, Mr. Levanoni since 1998.

About First Quadrant

Founded in 1988, First Quadrant is an investment management firm specializing in global macro and equity strategies, and provides asset management to corporations, endowments, foundations, and public pension plans. The general partner of First Quadrant is Affiliated Managers Group, Inc., a publicly traded company. As of December 31, 2009, First Quadrant had assets under management of approximately $17.4 billion.

About John Hancock Funds

The Boston-based mutual fund business unit of John Hancock Financial, John Hancock Funds manages more than $54.6 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts, retirement plans and related party assets for individual and institutional investors as at June 30, 2010.

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial Corporation

John Hancock Financial is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 22 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and in most of Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, Manulife Financial Corporation offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. For more than 120 years, clients have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$454 billion (US$428 billion) as at June 30, 2010. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial may be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at www.johnhancock.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Funds


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