About 1 million employees will gain greater access to their mandatory provident fund (MPF) and manage retirement savings more proactively as phase one of the MPF Full Portability is set to roll out on December 21.
Eligible scheme members can initiate their transfers for 2026 calendar year from 21 to 31 December, as well as transfers for 2027 calendar year starting 1 January next year., MPFA chairman Ayesha Macpherson Lau stated in her blog on Sunday.
Phase One covers about 1 million employees who entered the job market or changed jobs on or after 1 May 2025. As more graduates enter the workforce and employees change jobs, thus meeting the relevant eligibility criteria, more will benefit from Phase One Full Portability.
She reminded employees that the MPFA is a long-term investment and cautioned against transferring funds “for the sake of transfer” and making frequent MPF transfers.
Phase Two Full Portability will cover employees who commenced their current employment before 1 May 2025. Since their MPF derived from employer mandatory contributions may continue to be used for offsetting the portion of long service payments or severance payments for employment periods before 1 May 2025, additional legislative amendments are required to ensure that the operational needs arising from the relevant statutory arrangements can be satisfied while enhancing employees’ control over their MPF.
Lau reviewed the development from MPF semi-portability to Full Portability in her blog, noting that from 2021 to 2025, an average of HK$4.5 billion in MPF was transferred each year through semi-portability to MPF schemes chosen by employees, a 7 percent increase compared with the annual average of HK$4.2 billion in the previous five-year period from 2016 to 2020. As of September 2026, the cumulative number of transfers through semi-portability exceeded 1.1 million, involving a total amount of approximately HK$59 billion.
