Updated analysis: Manulife and Sun Life reject over 80% of Hong Kongers who have applied for early MPF withdrawal

Hong Kong Watch has found that Canadian Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) trustees Manulife and Sun Life rejected over 80% of Hong Kongers who have permanently emigrated to the UK or Canada applying for early MPF withdrawal, with 90% of the cases being on the grounds that the British National (Overseas) (BNO) visa is either not a valid document or does not show permission to permanently reside outside Hong Kong.

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. However, 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 BNO identity has blocked access for hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers.

These updated findings follow Hong Kong Watch research from April 2023 showing that Hong Kongers who have fled to the UK are being denied access to over £2 billion in savings held in the MPF.

Hong Kong Watch has now surveyed 396 Hong Kongers who now reside in the UK or in Canada on whether they have been able to withdraw their MPF savings. Our key findings are as follows:

• Manulife and Sun Life, both Canadian MPF trustees, are the MPF providers for almost 60% of respondents. 

• Among respondents whose MPF providers are Manulife and Sun Life, over 80% of those who have attempted to withdraw their MPF savings were unsuccessful. 

• 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. 

• Respondents who have over 5 years of contributions in their MPF are four 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.

The full briefing can be read here.

Katherine Leung, Hong Kong Watch’s Policy Advisor for Canada, said:

“We continue to work diligently to inform the Canadian and UK governments of the unacceptable withholding of Hong Kongers’ hard-earned Mandatory Provident Fund savings. We are also working with business executives to address this pressing issue as Hong Kongers continue to be denied access to their retirement savings.”