MPF rebound in November fails to offset losses in the first 11 months of the year
- All 426 MPF investment funds report a 1.77 per cent gain in November but lost 5.87 per cent year to date
- Analysts predict full-year loss as uncertainties hang over US-China trade
A strong Hong Kong stock market rebound in November has helped each member of the Mandatory Provident Fund earn HK$5,106 (US$653), but not enough to rescue the government’s mandated pension fund from suffering a loss in 2018.
On average, each member – or employee – still lost HK$14,139 in the first 11 months this year, according to data from financial services firm Convoy Financial.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index bounced back by 6.1 per cent in November from a 13 per cent drop over the first 10 months of the year, which also helped the MPF pared losses.
The fund covers 2.8 million employee and self-employed people in Hong Kong. Employers match five per cent of the salaries that employees must contribute to the fund, up to a combined HK$3,000 per month which would then be invested into a number of investment funds.
The pension scheme has assets totalling HK$858.314 billion at the end of September, according to data from the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority.
In November, the compulsory fund, comprising 426 MPF investment funds, reported a 1.77 per cent gain, data from Refinitiv, formerly Thomson Reuters Lipper that tracks the fund’s performance showed. This compared with the 5.87 per cent decline in the first 11 months.