BEA offers one-off bonuses for transferred MPF assets: “triple rewards” from HK$10,000

Bank of East Asia Trustees, the bank’s wholly owned subsidiary, announced on 31 October 2011 a promotion offering “triple rewards” to new and existing MPF customers who transferred accrued benefits from other providers into the BEA (MPF) Master Trust Scheme.

How do the MPF transfer bonuses work?

From the announcement until 31 December 2011, clients who registered and successfully transferred HK$10,000 or more in accrued benefits from another provider by 31 January 2012 could receive bonus fund units worth HK$100 to as much as 0.68% of the transferred amount. In addition, the top 10 clients by transferred amount in each of five designated asset bands could earn an extra 0.32%; and the top 10 overall (HK$50,000-plus) could earn another HK$1,000–10,000 in units.

The catch: assets locked until February 2013

Clients had to keep the full transferred amount in their BEA account until 28 February 2013, or the bonus units would be clawed back. Bonus units form part of the account balance and attract the scheme’s charges — the reward is no free lunch, so weigh the fee differences before moving.

Why trustees love your transfers

Patrick Li, BEA Trustees’ director and chief executive, framed it as helping clients consolidate MPF assets. The logic was direct: at end-August 2011, BEA Trustees ran two MPF schemes with over 500,000 members and HK$13.1 billion in assets; every transferred dollar added fee income. On the eve of the ECA, bonus wars and price wars were two fronts of the same battle.

What members can do

Bonuses tempt, but do three things before transferring: compare the two schemes’ fund expense ratios, confirm the fund categories suit you, and check the bonus outweighs the hassle. HK$100 is tangible, but a 0.5% annual fee gap dwarfs any one-off bonus over a decade. The MPF education hub teaches comparison. BEA MPF hotline: 2211 1777.