EMPF Platform: Hong Kong to migrate smallest pension firms first, with giants like HSBC to bring up the rear by end-2025, regulator says

A detailed timeline of the eMPF Platform, the largest-ever reform of Hong Kong’s compulsory pension scheme, was unveiled before the city’s Legislative Council on Monday
The platform will save costs and standardise the administration of pension schemes, MPFA Chairwoman Ayesha Macpherson Lau tells council

Banking & finance

Enoch Yiu

Published: 6:40pm, 18 Mar 2024

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YF Life Trustees, the smallest of Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) providers, will be the first to migrate to the soon-to-be-launched eMPF Platform, while HSBC, the largest provider, will be the last, according to a detailed timeline announced by the pensions regulator on Monday.

The eMPF Platform is the largest-ever reform of the compulsory pension scheme, which was launched in 2000. It will replace the separate systems currently in use, allowing the 12 MPF providers or trustees, 357,000 employers and 4.75 million members to manage MPF assets – worth HK$1.14 trillion (US$146.15 billion) as of the end of December – through a single platform.

YF Life will move to the new platform in June as part of an 18-month process that will conclude with HSBC joining towards the end of 2025.

“The migration will be made in the order of smaller players to the biggest ones, so as to allow the system to run in a smooth manner,” Ayesha Macpherson Lau, chairwoman of pensions regulator Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), told a meeting of the financial affairs panel of the Legislative Council, during which she unveiled the timeline to lawmakers.

“It is better to allow providers with a small number of members to try the system to gain some experience, before the massive number of members from bigger players are added in.”

YF Life will be followed by China Life in July. The pair are Hong Kong’s smallest MPF providers, with a market share of 0.8 per cent and HK$9 billion in MPF assets under management.

The eMPF Company will monitor the platform’s cybersecurity system and set up backup data centres to make sure that MPF schemes are not affected by the data migration, MPFA Chairwoman Ayesha Macpherson Lau says. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Bank of Communications Trustee and Standard Chartered Trustee (Hong Kong) will join the eMPF Platform in the fourth quarter, while the three schemes run by the Bank of East Asia (Trustees) will be added at different times in the fourth quarter and next year’s first quarter. Principal Trust Company (Asia), BOCI-Prudential Trustee and Bank Consortium Trust will be added in the first and second quarters of 2025.

AIA Company (Trustee) and Sun Life Trustee will be added to the platform in the second or third quarters, with Manulife joining in the third quarter. HSBC and subsidiary Hang Seng Bank will be the last ones to be added to the eMPF Platform in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Manulife and HSBC are the two biggest providers with a combined market share of 55 per cent and HK$620 billion in assets under management.

How Hong Kong’s new eMPF Platform will impact employers and members

“The eMPF Platform will save costs and standardise the administration of the MPF,” Lau told the panel. Over 10 years of operation, the platform could lead to total cost savings of “about HK$30 billion to HK$40 billion”, she added.

It could also attract new players to the sector. The eMPF Platform will allow banks or other financial firms to provide MPF services “by joining the same platform, with no need to spend time and money setting up their own platforms”, Lau said.

The new platform was welcomed by the lawmakers, but many expressed their concerns about cybersecurity.

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“All the 4.75 million members’ data will be transferred to the eMPF Platform,” said lawmaker Ronick Chan Chun-ying, who is also an adviser to the Bank of China (Hong Kong). “It is important to make sure the system will not collapse or face any cyberattacks.”

The MPFA will run tests before the launch to ensure the platform can handle instructions from the MPF’s huge number of members. The scheme has more than 11 million accounts because its members can have more than one account.

“The eMPF Company will monitor [the platform’s cybersecurity] system round the clock and set up backup data centres to make sure that the MPF schemes are not affected by the data migration,” Lau said.

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