What Risks and Chances Did the MPF ECA Bring?

How did Fidelity view the Employee Choice Arrangement?

In November 2010, Fidelity Hong Kong’s Cheng Kim-wai told an interview the ECA was “risk and opportunity”: Fidelity is an investment manager, not a trustee, with a sales team of just over a dozen serving employers only — it could hardly chase 2 million-plus employees proactively and would “passively wait for them to come”. Yet the customer base was undeniably bigger — an HKIFA survey showed about 30% of employees would definitely switch trustees, implying over 500,000 potential clients against Fidelity’s roughly 7% share.

How did Fidelity respond?

Hiring, stronger customer service, a website and hotline, plus advertising its access channels; and a push to lift Hongkongers’ overall fund-investing appetite — “stop just trading one or two stocks” — toward diversified, multi-region portfolios.

What hiring headaches did fund houses face?

Cheng lamented the scarcity of bilingual investment and marketing talent amid constant poaching. A former tax accountant turned fund executive, she had helped prepare MPF at the SFC. Members can compare schemes at MPF fund comparison.