'Full portability' of employees' MPF contributions on the horizon

The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority will finalize its proposal on MPF full portability and submit it to the government, following the conclusion of a recent consultation, to give employees greater autonomy in managing their retirement savings, says chairwoman Ayesha MacPherson Lau.

Lau, in a blog post, said initial feedback from the consultation, launched on March 28, included calls for the MPFA to further clarify the details of the full portability arrangement ahead of its implementation.

Lau pointed out that after the Employee Choice Arrangement – commonly known as “semi-portability” – was introduced in 2012, employees could transfer the entire amount of employee mandatory contributions in their contribution accounts from their employers' MPF schemes to a scheme of their choice once a year, thereby enabling them to select an MPF scheme that better suits their investment needs.

Between 2020 and 2024, an average of HK$4.8 billion was transferred annually, up 27 percent from the HK$3.8 billion average in the preceding five years, Lau said.

"As of March 2025, the cumulative value of such transfers surpassed HK$50 billion across more than one million transactions."

STAFF REPORTER