BCT MPF: Under Semi-Portability, How Should You Review the Need to Switch?

This article is a rewrite of a report from November 2012.

In November 2012’s Employee Choice Arrangement era, BCT Group managing director Lau Ka-shi called it a chance to plan long-term investments more deliberately — but whether to transfer starts with reviewing the need: “don’t follow the herd or switch for switching’s sake”. Members with multiple preserved accounts could also consolidate them in one go for easier management.

How does BCT view the switching decision?

Understand the arrangement first, review your portfolio and risk tolerance, then decide. Lau said members should study the new arrangement in detail and examine their current MPF fund mix and personal risk capacity before deciding whether to move accrued assets.

What should you compare before switching?

Five things: fund choice and mix, fund performance, management fees, service standards, and whether the company focuses on retirement services. Fund performance means five-, seven- and ten-year sustained returns, not short bursts; also check whether the company is dedicated to MPF and retirement services, develops new products, and promotes investor education.

What investor education did BCT run at the time?

A hotline, a dedicated web zone, seminars and a roadshow — four prongs. Beyond a dedicated Employee Choice Arrangement hotline (2298 9399) and web section, BCT held a mass public seminar on matching MPF strategy to personality, plus the “BCT mobile roadshow” — three weeks touring 13 hotspots from Causeway Bay to Sha Tin with the “BCT MPF piggy bank”, handing out “MPF tip” leaflets and tablet games to deepen public understanding of the new measure.