May 2023
17May

Hong Kong’s ageing population time bomb to leave a shortage of 60,000 residences for the elderly by 2032: JLL

Hong Kong will face a shortage of over 60,000 residences for the elderly by 2032 as the city’s population rapidly ages, before eventually becoming the world’s oldest society by 2050, according to JLL. The city’s Kwun Tong, Yuen Long, Sha Tin and Eastern district are among the areas with the most serious ageing problem, the property consultancy said in a report on Tuesday. In Kwun Tong, only one in 41 elderly people will find a place in elderly homes, it...

May 17, 2023
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11May

UK MPs urge minister to do more to free Hongkongers’ trapped savings

The first British ministerial visit to Hong Kong since the introduction of draconian Chinese security laws five years ago was a chance to demand that China unlock more than £2bn in pensions belonging to British overseas passport holders who fled for the UK, former cabinet ministers have told the Foreign Office. A letter signed by more than 90 MPs, including 10 former ministers, urges the trade minister Dominic Johnson to do more to release frozen savings belonging to thousands of...

May 11, 2023
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April 2023
19Apr

Hong Kong pensions body slams The Wall Street Journal over claim that BNO passport holders’ assets held ‘hostage’

Hong Kong’s pensions fund authority has demanded that American newspaper The Wall Street Journal retract “misinformation” in an op-ed about holders of British National Overseas (BNO) passports’ access to their pensions. The op-ed, titled “Hong Kong’s Hostage Pensions,” was published by the paper’s editorial board last Friday. It discussed a Mandatory Provident Fund policy that denies pension payouts to emigrants using BNO passports as evidence of early withdrawal of funds. Anyone who permanently leaves the city is normally entitled to make...

April 19, 2023
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February 2023
09Feb

UK MPs and peers find HSBC complicit in Hong Kong human rights abuses

HSBC is complicit in human rights abuses against Hong Kong residents by siding with Chinese authorities and denying pension payouts to those who fled the authoritarian crackdown, an inquiry by peers and MPs has concluded. The report by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Hong Kong took issue with the fact that banks including HSBC – which help to manage the compulsory pension fund that all residents pay into – have bowed to local authorities and refused to recognise the...

February 9, 2023
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December 2022
15Dec

Departing Hong Kong residents took $378 million from pensions in Q3

Residents leaving Hong Kong for good withdrew a total of HK$2.177 billion (S$378 million) from their pension accounts in the third quarter of 2022, down 16.4 per cent from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday. A total of 8,600 claims to withdraw from the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) were made in the July-September quarter, compared with the 9,300 claims taking out HK$2.604 billion during the same period in 2021. The figure also compared with 8,600 claims in the April-June...

December 15, 2022
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November 2022
29Nov

70% of Hong Kong banking customers not satisfied with their online experience

Consumer confidence in digital banking has risen strongly in past two years – but large majority would trust 'Big Tech' with their finances at least as much as a bank. Hong Kong consumer confidence in digital banking is rising but trust is no longer a bank monopoly, according to a new Asia-Pacific focused Bank of the Future survey from Capco, the global technology and management consultancy. Capco surveyed 707 Hong Kong consumers to gauge their attitudes to banking services at a...

November 29, 2022
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October 2022
31Oct

Hong Kong pension fund arrears hit 3-year high as coronavirus impact continues to devastate businesses

Pension fund contribution arrears among Hong Kong employers have hit a three-year high amid the Covid-19 slump and an average of 28,500 default notices a month have been issued to non-compliant businesses since April, the city’s pensions supervisor has revealed. Ayesha Macpherson Lau, the chairwoman of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, wrote on her official blog on Sunday she was concerned the increase in defaulting companies could weaken retirement protection for employees and promised to take steps to help...

October 31, 2022
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06Oct

Hong Kong Pensions See Record Plunge of 22% – SCMP

The territory’s Mandatory Provision Fund lost $32.98 billion, equating to $7,197.63 per person, the South China Morning Post reported Hong Kong’s pension fund lost 21.5% on average in the first nine months of the year, its worst performance in 22 years, The South China Morning Post reported. The country’s Mandatory Provision Fund (MPF) lost $32.98 billion, equating to $7,197.63 per person, said the report. Analysts attributed the loss to the plunge in stock markets in Hong Kong and on mainland China,...

October 6, 2022
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September 2022
08Sep

South Africa’s Eskom Recovers $1.7 Million From Ex-CEO’s Pension

South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. has recovered 30 million rand ($1.7 million) that it paid six years ago to boost the pension of former Chief Executive Officer Brian Molefe. The nation’s High Court in July reaffirmed a 2018 ruling that the payout to increase Molefe’s early-retirement benefit was unlawful, Eskom said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday. Read also Ghana. Pensions industry loses US$800 million in 2 years to weakening cedi While the amount is unlikely to...

September 8, 2022
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08Sep

Departing Hong Kong residents took $269 mln from pensions in Q2

Residents leaving Hong Kong for good withdrew a total of HK$2.114 billion ($269.31 million) from their pension accounts in the second quarter of 2022, up 0.9% from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, a sign that more people were moving put of the financial hub. Curbs to control the spread of COVID-19 are partly blamed for a net outflow of 113,200 people from Hong Kong between mid-2021 and mid-2022, according The city had a population of around 7.29 million...

September 8, 2022
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