Canada should take action against companies involved in Hong Kong MPF savings troubles

In the last year the Canadian public has rightly paid close attention and called on the government to respond to the growing human rights crisis in Hong Kong, following the introduction of the draconian National Security Law.

It is this pressure which forced the Immigration Minister, Marco Mendicino, to announce a lifeboat scheme to help young Hong Kongers not covered by the British National Overseas visa scheme of November 2020, which will hopefully ensure that Canada will finally sanction Hong Kong and Chinese officials responsible for the human rights violations within the city.

Yet outside of the spotlight of the government’s response, a Canadian-based insurance company appears to be complicit in the ongoing oppression against Hong Kongers desperate to escape the city. In the past few weeks, a number of Hong Kongers who have moved to the UK have reported that the Canadian-based insurance company Manulife is refusing to allow them to withdraw their savings paid into the city’s mandatory retirement savings scheme.

Manulife and HSBC, who represent the two largest providers of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) schemes, claim that they are only following the orders of the Hong Kong government, which recently stated that the British National Overseas visa cannot be used as proof to withdraw funds from compulsory retirement savings scheme.

Manulife and HSBC told Bloomberg News that they follow industry practices and regulatory requirements when processing applications. “As with all MPF service providers, we follow the regulator’s requirements for processing applications related to early withdrawal of accrued benefits by MPF scheme members,” HSBC told Bloomberg.

However, within the legislation underpinning the city’s mandatory retirement savings scheme it states that Hong Kongers can cite moving abroad as a valid reason to withdraw their savings early.

So, what is going on? The answer lies in the attitude of the Chinese Communist Party which is seeking to financially punish Hong Kongers who flee the city by holding their savings hostage.

The rationale behind this cynical strategy is twofold: first, to make the lives of Hong Kongers who leave financially difficult; and secondly, to deter others who are thinking of making a similar choice. In turn Beijing hopes this strategy will reinforce its propaganda that those who dare to leave the city will be economically worse off and regret moving abroad.

Take the case of Steven and his wife. According to a report by Hong Kong Watch, an organization of which I am a patron, the two previously worked in Hong Kong for 20 years and paid around HK$400,000 (C$64,000) into their retirement savings held by HSBC and Manulife. After moving to the UK, they submitted paperwork which included their BNO visa, a letter from the Home Office, their residency permit, flight details, and proof of address, to request the withdrawal of their funds. The report said that both Manulife and HSBC continue to refuse to allow Steven and his wife to withdraw their savings leaving them struggling financially to start their new lives. This scenario illustrates the reality of the recent Chinese Communist Party’s decision not to recognize the British Overseas Visa.

Despite the propaganda being pumped out on a daily basis by Beijing’s mouthpieces in the Hong Kong press attacking lifeboat schemes and claims that the exodus has nothing to do with the National Security Law, nearly 90,000 Hong Kongers have already made the heart-breaking decision to leave the city since the summer last year. These brave families who have made the impossible choice to give up their lives in Hong Kong in favour of living in free and open societies have moved to the UK, Canada, Australia, USA, Taiwan, and Europe.

At a bare minimum they deserve our support and access to their hard-earned savings to begin their new lives abroad. It is both morally repugnant and indefensible for Manulife and other western companies to work hand in hand with Beijing to hold Hong Kongers money hostage.

The Canadian public must act and send a clear message to Manulife that we will not stand idly by while a Canadian company aids China in seeking to deprive Hong Kong refugees of their hard-earned savings at the behest of the Chinese Communist regime.

To that end Canadians should urge the government to undertake an audit of Manulife’s behaviour in Hong Kong and an assessment of whether it breaches the company’s commitments to uphold the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

If Manulife continues to refuse to release Hong Kongers’ savings at the behest of the Chinese government, Canadians who are customers and have savings with Manulife should consider raising their concern with their provider.

Second, the government should review any public contracts it has with Manulife and the private access its executives are afforded with ministers. Finally, when Parliament returns after the September election, both the Canada-China Relations Committee and the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs on International Trade should launch an inquiry and study into the complicity of Canadian companies in the ongoing crackdown in Hong Kong.

Our shared values and historic relationship with the people of Hong Kong demand that we not allow Canadian companies to remain complicit in their persecution.

Senator Leo Housakos, HKW Patron

This analysis was previously published in The Hill Times on 1 September 2021. The original version can be found here: https://www.hilltimes.com/2021/09/01/canada-should-take-action-against-companies-involved-in-hong-kong-pension-troubles/314412