Hong Kong Monetary Authority: The quality of service in the second phase of the Mandatory Provident Fund will continue to improve, enhancing the efficiency of operations.

The second phase of the MPF platform has been launched on March 5th. The Administrative Director and Executive Director of the Hong Kong MPFA, Zheng En-Ci, stated that they have summarized the experience of the first phase and have requested the MPF service contractor, Convoy (00008), to continuously improve the quality of service, such as increasing manpower and deploying outreach teams to support employers and members, to ensure "support is available in every district," believing that the operation of the second phase will be smoother. In the first phase last year, the MPF platform was criticized for frequent "malfunctions," including users reporting inability to view contribution records, incorrect auto transfers, and even contributions turning to zero. Zheng En-Ci emphasized in an interview that user assets were not lost, just not displayed promptly on the platform, and clarified that there were no systemic errors. Zheng En-Ci reiterated that the MPF platform helps reduce administrative costs and aims to gradually reduce the average administrative fee from 58 basis points to 20-25 basis points, potentially saving plan members HK$30-40 billion. He also mentioned that the MPFA requires trustees to submit 5-year plans to reduce fees, aiming to lower investment management fees and other charges. The budget earlier mentioned that the full liberalization of the MPF will complete relevant consultation and legislative work within this year. Zheng En-Ci revealed that one direction of consultation includes the frequency of trustee changes, as the current "semi-free flow" arrangement only allows one change per year, with the possibility that too frequent changes could increase costs. As for the timing of full liberalization, he stated that it depends on the consultation results and progress in amending laws.