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Financial and Monetary Affairs

MPF schemes are managed privately and regulated by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA). At the year end, there were 14 active approved MPF trustees providing MPF schemes and funds and 37,015 registered MPF intermediaries engaging in regulated activities such as selling and advising on MPF schemes.

Recent Developments

The eMPF Platform is a common electronic platform that will standardise, streamline and automate MPF scheme administration processes, so as to enhance operational efficiency, create room for fee reduction, and offer a predominantly paperless MPF experience. Development work on the platform is ongoing for completion at the end of 2022 at the earliest to enable on-boarding by trustees in batches. The platform is expected to be fully functional around 2025.

On 26 June, the Occupational Retirement Schemes (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 came into operation, improving the governance of ORSO schemes and providing the MPFA with enhanced powers to ensure such retirement schemes are genuinely employment-based.

Anti-money Laundering and Counter-terrorist Financing

Money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) is a global problem that can undermine the integrity and stability of international financial markets. Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre and an externally oriented economy potentially exposes it to such threats from within the city and more so from other places. Hong Kong has a robust, mature and effective regulatory regime to combat ML/TF, effectively safeguarding the integrity of its business environment and reputation as an international financial centre.

In 2019, Hong Kong became the first jurisdiction in the Asia-Pacific region to be assessed overall compliant in the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) fourth round of mutual evaluation. The government continues to enhance Hong Kong's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regime. A public consultation was launched in November on proposals to regulate virtual asset service providers and dealers in precious metals and stones in keeping with the FATF requirements.

Hong Kong as China's Global Financial Centre

With the continued internationalisation of the RMB and the opening up of Mainland financial markets, the currency is increasingly used in global transactions, ranging from cross-boundary trade and direct investment transactions to financial investment and asset management activities.

Hong Kong is the largest and most important global offshore RMB business hub, offering a wide range of RMB-denominated investment products, including listed and unlisted investment funds, insurance products, currency futures, real estate investment trusts, shares, derivatives products and bonds.

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