Following is a question by the Hon Chan Kin-por and a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr James Lau, in the Legislative Council today (April 25):
 
Question:
 
     The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) launched, in late 2016, an e-Enquiry of Personal Account (ePA) platform and an ePA mobile application to enable members of Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) schemes to access and manage their MPF personal accounts more easily (ePA service). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
 
(1) the current number of MPF scheme members who have registered and activated the ePA service;
 
(2) whether MPFA has reviewed the effectiveness of the ePA service since its launch; if so, of the outcome; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(3) whether MPFA has any plan to expand the scope of information available for enquiry under the ePA service so as to enable MPF scheme members to have access to (i) the latest balances in their MPF personal accounts, and (ii) information on the contributions made by their current employers to the MPF accounts set up for them; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     The replies to the questions raised by the Hon Chan are as follows:
 
(1) As at the end of March 2018, 51 000 scheme members have successfully registered and activated the e-Enquiry of Personal Account (ePA) service.
 
(2) At present, the average monthly hit-rate of the ePA platform is about 100 000, whilst the number of users who check their personal accounts using the ePA service is about 6 300 per month on average. We are satisfied with the utilisation rate, and believe that the number of people registering and using the service will continue to increase.
 
(3) Limited by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) Regulation, the ePA service does not provide information on the latest personal account balance and employers' contribution information. The MPFA has set up a hotline, "MPF Contribution Enquiry Line", through which scheme members may enquire the relevant information from trustees concerned.
 
     We are developing the eMPF, a centralised electronic platform, which is planned to support more comprehensive information enquiry and account management functions.

Ends/Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Issued at HKT 12:25

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