Hong Kong’s MPF earns HK$32.2 billion for its 4.7 million members in first half, reverses last year’s heavy losses

Name: Premier Li Qiang plays up China’s economic prospects at World Economic Forum’s ‘Summer Davos’
Uploaded: 2023-07-05T03:01:44.000Z
Duration: 1 min 49 s
Description: Premier Li Qiang plays up China’s economic prospects at World Economic Forum’s ‘Summer Davos’

MPF funds made an average gain of 3.07 per cent in the first half, a turnaround from the 12.8 per cent loss a year earlier

US equity funds were the best performers, while China and Hong Kong equity funds suffered losses

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The retirement savings of Hong Kong’s 4.7 million Mandatory Pension Fund members received a boost from the fund’s first-half earnings. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Enoch Yiu

Published: 11:01am, 5 Jul 2023Updated: 2:43pm, 5 Jul 2023

Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), the compulsory retirement scheme that covers 4.7 million members in the city, reported its best first-half result in two years and reversed a loss from the year-earlier period.

The 413 investment funds under MPF earned a combined HK$32.2 billion (US$4.1 billion) in the six months to June, or HK$6,900 for each member, according to data provided by MPF Ratings, an independent research firm, on Wednesday.

The funds’ average return stood at 3.07 per cent for the six-month period, compared with a heavy loss of 12.8 per cent in the same period last year, which was the worst first half on record. The first-half returns were also the best since 2021 when the fund made 5.07 per cent.

US equity funds were the best performers, while China and Hong Kong equity funds suffered losses.

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Premier Li Qiang plays up China’s economic prospects at World Economic Forum’s ‘Summer Davos’

“While the MPF’s first-half result is solid, the result could have been better but for negative returns from Hong Kong and China equities,” said MPF Rating’s chairman Francis Chung.