JPMorgan urges looser approval for emerging-market funds: retirement money must beat inflation

JPMorgan Asset Management argued that with inflation running hot, retirement savings needed inflation-beating options. Emerging markets were growing far faster than developed ones, yet the firm’s emerging-market fund took two years to win approval — so it urged the MPFA to loosen vetting of such products.

Why do emerging markets matter so much?

Growth. Edwin Chan, the firm’s institutional and pensions chief, noted many emerging markets including Asia were growing 7–8%, supporting equities — a natural inflation hedge for retirement savings. But slow approvals kept good products off the shelf.

What else did JPMorgan advocate?

• Tiered fees: following BOC-Prudential’s flexible-fee call, JPMorgan backed tiered fee rates over flat fees — the larger the balance, the lower the rate, which is fairer to members.
• Questioning the cult of cheap: on the MPFA’s push for low-cost passive products like ETFs, Chan noted up to 99% of index funds underperformed active products, questioning whether low cost truly meant better value.
• Equities over bonds: investment services vice-president Agnes Tan favoured equities, adding to H-shares with a positive view on domestic demand, consumption and cement stocks.

The approval and fee debates shared one core question: how the MPF system gets workers the best risk-return trade-off. Compare emerging-market fund choices with MPF fund search.