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The Legislative Council (the LegCo) passed the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2006 (the Amendment Regulation) today (June 14). The Amendment Regulation aims to further enhance the investment regulations governing Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) funds.
A Government spokesman said, ˇ§Having considered the operational experience and the current situation of the financial markets, the Government and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (the MPFA) introduced into the LegCo a number of technical amendments to the investment regulations governing MPF funds. These proposals aim to enhance protection of scheme membersˇ¦ interests, improve operation of existing provisions on investment regulation, enhance flexibility of MPF investments and remove undue restrictions on investment of MPF scheme funds.ˇ¨
ˇ§We trust that the MPF scheme members and service providers will welcome the proposals,ˇ¨ the spokesman added.
The Amendment Regulation will become effective in about three months to allow time for the MPF service providers to adjust the existing investment portfolios and relevant systems.
The spokesman said the MPFA would maintain dialogue with the MPF service providers to ensure that the transitional work would be completed smoothly.
ˇ§In the meantime, the MPFA will issue a number of necessary guidelines for the implementation of the Amendment Regulation,ˇ¨ the spokesman said.
The Government and the MPFA will continue to review and refine the MPF System to ensure that it is in line with the current market situation and is able to protect the interests of the MPF scheme members.
The Amendment Regulation will be gazetted this Friday (June 16).
Ends/Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:54
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