***********************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority:
The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) today (5 May 2008) stated that it would fully complement the Government to implement its proposed injection of $6,000 into the accounts of eligible members of MPF schemes and MPF exempted Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance registered schemes (ORSO schemes) (Note 1).
An MPFA spokesperson said that the injection was a colossal exercise involving legislative amendments and complicated administrative procedures. Upon the passage of the relevant legislative amendments by the Legislative Council, the MPFA would need to handle the data of 2.35 million employees and self-employed persons under MPF schemes, 440,000 ORSO scheme members, 2.6 million preserved accounts holders and scheme members who left employment between 1 March 2007 and 29 February 2008, covering more than 5 million accounts. The MPFA would need to collect, verify and consolidate the relevant data for central matching so as to compile a list of eligible scheme members. The coverage of the population meeting the Government¡¯s eligibility criteria is expected to be around 1.7 million.
The MPFA will then arrange fund transfers to trustees for injection into the accounts of eligible scheme members. The total amount of fund involved for the injection arrangements is expected to be about $11.5 billion.
The MPFA plans to commence injecting $6,000 into the accounts of eligible scheme members within this financial year.
The spokesperson emphasized that the MPFA hopes to announce the injection schedule by the end of this year. Injection arrangements would be made known to the public through various channels before the injection commences. The MPFA asks for scheme members¡¯ patience to wait for the relevant announcement.
On the other hand, those members who consider themselves eligible for the injection but are not injected the amount will be given ample time to make enquiries with the MPFA. Members need not enquire about their own scenarios at this stage.
To facilitate the implementation of the injection, the MPFA also calls on scheme members to take the following necessary actions:
- Employers: They are required to discharge their legal obligations by enrolling eligible employees in an MPF scheme, sending remittance statements to their trustees and making the correct amount of contributions on time;
- Employees: They should check the contribution status of their MPF accounts through the enquiry channels provided by their respective trustees or consider calling the MPF Contribution Enquiry Line at 183 3030;
- Self-employed persons: If they have not yet informed inform their trustees of their relevant income in the current financial year, they should do so on or before 31 July 2008.
The eligibility criteria of recipients under the injection as announced by the Government will be posted on the MPFA¡¯s website at www.mpfa.org.hk. The MPFA will also prepare publicity flyers for wide distribution to help scheme members understand the project (Note 2).
Note 1: The Financial Secretary in his 2008-09 Budget Speech announced the Government proposed to make an injection of $6,000 into the accounts of eligible members of MPF schemes and ORSO schemes who each earned a monthly income of $10,000 or below with an aim to enhancing their retirement protection.
The Financial Secretary later in his Budget Concluding Speech announced that the coverage of the proposed injection would be extended to benefit more scheme members.
Note 2: As for information relating to the eligibility criteria, necessary actions to be taken by scheme members, and arrangements and schedule of the injection project, please refer to the Annex attached with this press release.
Ends/Monday, May 5, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:52
NNNN
