Following is a question by the Hon Holden Chow and a reply by the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, in the Legislative Council today (October 22):
 
Question:
 
     It has been reported that complaints have been received continuously against the eMPF Platform since its launch last year, including cases in which calls to its hotline were frequently unanswered and users had no alternative but to leave voicemails or submit enquiries via email. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it knows the respective numbers of complaints received from employers and Mandatory Provident Fund scheme members against the eMPF Platform since it has been launched, with a tabulated breakdown of the numbers of complaints and their average processing time by type of complaints (including difficulties in registration, failure to access enrolment status and contribution records, failure to show contribution records in user accounts, complicated procedures for handling contributions, difficulties in changing or updating information, and inefficient customer services, etc.);
 
(2) whether it knows the current staffing establishment of the eMPF Platform for handling complaints, and whether there are plans to increase manpower or take alternative measures to handle complaints more effectively; if there are plans, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(3) as there are views pointing out that it takes excessively long time for the eMPF Platform to handle complaints, of the number of complaint cases which have not been resolved within the stipulated timeframe under its service delivery standards (i.e. within 12 working days) so far and the respective reasons for failing to meet the standards?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     The eMPF Platform (the Platform) seeks to standardise, streamline, and automate Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) scheme administration work, thereby enhancing operational efficiency, reducing administrative costs, driving fee reduction, and providing greater convenience in managing MPF accounts. In consultation with the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), our consolidated reply to the various parts of the question is as follows.
 
     Since the launch of the eMPF Platform last June, 17 MPF schemes administered by 10 trustees have onboarded the Platform, altogether accounting for roughly 43 per cent of the total MPF assets-under-management. Since its launch, the eMPF Platform's operation has been largely smooth. As at end-September this year, the Platform has processed over 1.6 million administrative instructions of various types, including making MPF contributions and withdrawals.
 
     During the initial launch phase of the Platform, some employers and scheme members encountered difficulties in using the Platform, including issues with account registration through facial recognition technology, unclear payment instructions, and delays in tagging payments and identifying voluntary contributions resulting in contributions not being timely reflected in members' accounts, etc.
 
     The Government is highly concerned about these situations, and has already instructed that the MPFA and the eMPF Platform Company Limited (eMPF Company) must promptly address the relevant enquiries and complaints and proactively offer appropriate and timely support to employers and scheme members, so as to ensure the full protection of scheme members' MPF assets and their positive user experience. Measures already implemented include assigning dedicated officers to help the employers concerned to familiarise with the Platform's specific operation as soon as possible; setting up a contribution inquiry hotline in addition to the existing enquiry hotline to facilitate employers or employees in checking contribution information; strengthening the contractor's staff training and enhancing the reporting mechanism for exceptional cases; providing clearer guidelines on contributions on the Platform; and refining the facial recognition software to simplify the eMPF Platform registration process under the premise of ensuring the safety of users' personal data.
 
     The eMPF Company has set service pledges in respect of services provided by the Platform. In handling hotline enquiries and messages, the Platform staff will in general answer hotline enquiries within two minutes and return hotline voicemail messages within the next working day. As regards the handling of complaints and written enquiries, under general circumstances, the Platform staff will acknowledge receipt of complaints or written enquiries within three working days and issue replies within 12 working days. The relevant details have also been uploaded onto eMPF Company's official website for public reference.
 
     From its launch last June to end-September this year, the eMPF Platform received a total of about 2 400 complaint cases. The relevant case categories are set out at Annex. Over 90 per cent of the cases were issued with replies within the timeframe stipulated in the service pledges, taking an average processing time of about 10 to 12 working days. The remaining few cases could not be addressed within 12 working days mainly due to their complexity, such as those involving administrative instructions submitted to trustees by the complainants prior to the onboarding of their schemes, hence requiring more time to process. The Government has already requested the MPFA and eMPF Company to closely monitor the contractor's service standard in handling complaints to ensure proper handling of all complaints. To this end, the eMPF Company has recently implemented a performance tracking system to continuously monitor the Platform's operation statistics and to introduce alerts on critical processes, reminding the contractor's staff to complete the processing of instructions made by employers and scheme members within the specified timeframe.
 
     On manpower, the contractor has already increased its headcounts dedicated to handling eMPF-related enquiries and complaints by over 60 per cent in the past three months (from about 500 staff as at end-June to over 800 staff as at end-September), and will further increase its headcounts to over 1 100 by end of this year, representing a substantial increase in headcounts by more than a double within half a year which seeks to continuously enhance user experience and prepare for the imminent onboarding of larger-sized trustees to the eMPF Platform. Meanwhile, the MPFA and the eMPF Company have already urged that the contractor must continuously refine the complaint handling mechanism. Measures already implemented include arranging dedicated customer service staff to follow up on cases and maintain close communication with complainants, enhancing the system interface used by frontline staff, and providing appropriate staff training, etc, so as to expedite the processing of complaint cases. The Government, the MPFA and eMPF Company will continue to closely monitor the complaint handling mechanism of the eMPF Platform, with a view to providing employers and scheme members with customer services of higher quality.

     Thank you President.

Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Issued at HKT 14:40

NNNN