Manulife and Sun Life reject over 90% of Hong Kongers who have tried to withdraw their MPF retirement savings
Hong Kong Watch has found that Canadian trustees Manulife and Sun Life rejected over 90% of customers applying for MPF withdrawal on the grounds that the BNO visa was either not a valid document or does not show permission to reside outside Hong Kong.
Over 80% of Hong Kongers who have permanently emigrated to the UK or Canada and tried to withdraw their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) savings have been unsuccessful, new survey data released today shows.
The MPF is a compulsory retirement saving scheme for the people of Hong Kong and ordinarily anyone permanently leaving Hong Kong is entitled to withdraw their savings.
Manulife and Sun Life, both Canadian trustees, are the MPF providers for over 60% of survey respondents.
These new findings follow Hong Kong Watch research from earlier this year showing that Hong Kongers who have fled to the UK are being denied access to over £2 billion in savings held in the MPF.
A unilateral declaration from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to the opening of the BNO visa scheme in January 2021 to no longer recognise the British National (Overseas) identity has blocked access for hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers.
Today, Hong Kong Watch released a briefing on survey data of Hong Kongers struggling to withdraw their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) savings after emigration to Canada or the UK.
The MPF is a compulsory retirement saving scheme for the people of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Watch surveyed 290 Hong Kongers who now reside in the UK or in Canada of whether they have been able to withdraw their MPF savings. Our key findings are as follows:
This survey had a sample size of 290 respondents, composed of Hong Kongers now residing in the UK or in Canada.
Manulife and Sun Life, both Canadian trustees, are the MPF providers for over 60% of respondents.
Among respondents whose MPF providers are Manulife and Sun Life, 82.2% of those who have attempted to withdraw their MPF savings were unsuccessful.
Respondents who have over 10 years of contributions in their MPF are three times more likely to be unsuccessful when attempting to withdraw.
Over half of all respondents reported not having attempted to withdraw their MPF savings, with a majority citing discouragement from other Hong Kongers’ failure to do so as reason.
Manulife and Sun Life rejected over 90% of respondents who failed to withdraw their MPF on the grounds that the BNO Visa was either not a valid document or does not show permission to reside outside Hong Kong.
The full briefing can be read here.
Katherine Leung, Hong Kong Watch’s Policy Advisor for Canada, commenting on the briefing, said:
“We surveyed members of the Hong Kong community living in Canada and in the UK because of the numerous cases we have heard about Hong Kongers being unable to access their retirement savings.
The high rate of rejected applications for withdrawals by Canadian MPF trustees such as Manulife and Sun Life is unacceptable – Canadian companies should not be doing the bidding of Beijing in withholding the retirement savings of Hong Kongers who have left the city.”