FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the award winning global index provider and Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (“HKIFA”) today announced the start of the Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund Benchmarks market consultation. The consultation is conducted every three years to gather market views on the changes required to ensure that the FTSE MPF Index Series provides the most accurate benchmarks for the market.
FTSE has calculated the FTSE MPF Hong Kong Index Series since 2001, when it was selected by Towers Watson (previously Watson Wyatt) and the HKIFA to create a range of country and regional benchmarks hedged into Hong Kong Dollars, for the local investment community. The FTSE All-World Index Series was chosen as the base universe and customised to meet the regulatory requirements of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority as well as the investment needs of employees.
Jamie Perrett, Director, Index Research, Asia, FTSE Group, said, “As a leading global index provider, FTSE is renowned for tailoring its indexing solutions to meet the specific investment needs of market participants, particularly in Asia. Our regular engagement with the Hong Kong investment community is vital to ensuring that the FTSE MPF Index Series evolves in line with the specific requirements of fund managers. We look forward to continuing our work with HKIFA and Towers Watson, by developing the most relevant and accurate benchmarks for the MPF Scheme.”
Sally Wong, Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Investment Funds Association, said, “We are delighted to work with FTSE Group as well as other stakeholder groups to continuously enhance the MPF benchmarks. The objective is to enable fund managers to readily capitalise on the investment opportunity sets that are permitted within the MPF framework, so as to develop products that can cater for the retirement needs of employees in Hong Kong. With the implementation of “member choice” in 2011, we believe that the MPF benchmarks will become an increasingly important reference point for MPF members when they compare service providers.” For more information on the series, please visit www.ftse.com/mpf. For more information on Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Funds, please visit http://www.mpfa.org.hk/