Info Center

The MPFA today (2 December) released the September 2021 issue of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Statistical Digest (Statistical Digest), a quarterly report which covers key statistical data of the MPF System up to the end of September 2021, including enrolment, number of accounts, total MPF assets and investment performance.

The Statistical Digest quarterly report aims to enhance the information transparency of the MPF by showing the situation and progress of the MPF System in different areas.

The key findings in the September 2021 issue of the Statistical Digest quarterly report are as follows:

• As at the end of September 2021, total MPF assets amounted to around $1.17 trillion, representing a year-on-year increase of 14%. Over $398 billion of the total MPF assets was investment returns, net of fees and charges. Total MPF assets have increased by 78% over the past five years. The annualized net rate of return was 4.4% since the inception of the MPF System in 2000, higher than the inflation rate of 1.6% over the same period.
• In the first three quarters of 2021, total MPF contributions amounted to $61.84 billion, the highest level of contributions received compared to the first three quarters of previous years. In particular, tax-deductible voluntary contributions (TVC) amounted to $2.07 billion in the first three quarters of 2021, growing by 29% from the same period in 2020, reflecting an increase in popularity of TVC among scheme members.
• As at the end of September 2021, about 2.54 million MPF accounts had invested all or part of their assets according to the default investment strategy (DIS) or in the two constituent funds under the DIS, accounting for 24% of the total number of 10.40 million MPF accounts at the time. The total assets invested amounted to about $80.7 billion, accounting for 7% of total MPF assets. Over the past year, the Core Accumulation Fund and the Age 65 Plus Fund, the two constituent funds under the DIS, registered net investment returns of 15.2% and 3.1% respectively.
• In the third quarter of 2021, the total number of claims for MPF on various grounds (including retirement and early retirement) was 63,600, an increase of 6% from the second quarter of 2021. The number of claims for MPF on the grounds of permanent departure (PD) from Hong Kong in the third quarter of 2021 was 9,300.

An MPFA spokesperson said that according to past statistics, the number of PD claims fluctuated from time to time. While the number of PD claims has increased for the period of Q4 2020 – Q3 2021 as compared with that of Q4 2019 – Q3 2020, the numbers in each of the recent past three years have come down considerably as compared with those in the previous two years. Details are shown in the following table:

The spokesperson added that since an MPF scheme member may have more than one account under the MPF System and would make individual claims with the relevant trustees to withdraw his/her MPF from these accounts, the number of claimants involved is less than the number of claims. In addition, owing to continuous inflow of contributions and accumulated investment returns overall, the amount of withdrawal claims would also increase.

The spokesperson further reiterates that PD claimants may not be emigrants. PD claimants also include those returning to their places of origin (e.g. non-local employees who have completed their employment in Hong Kong) or moving to reside in the Mainland.

－Ends－                                                             

2 December 2021