The authority that oversees Mandatory Provident Fund trustees has told Manulife to change its online terms to make it easier for customers to reject conditions they are not happy with.
This follows complaints from customers who said they were unable to check their accounts without agreeing in advance to a set of conditions including use of their personal data for promotions.
The complaints have also prompted the privacy commissioner to check the insurer's website to see if it is complying with a guideline on personal data collection issued last year after the scandal over the Octopus card company's collection and sale of such data.
Manulife's MPF customers said they had not been able to check their accounts online unless they clicked the 'accept' button to agree with all the terms. These included one enabling Manulife or its associated companies to use customers' personal data 'to promote financial-related products or services ... through intermediaries or direct marketing'.
A Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority spokeswoman said last night it had 'instructed [Manulife] to improve the relevant arrangements to make it more convenient for scheme members to choose whether or not to accept promotional materials'.
Manulife, which has more than one million MPF accounts, said the agreement was amended when a new service was introduced to its website recently but no changes had been made to the privacy section.
It said it had not sold any personal information to third parties for promotional activities.