THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
General Explanatory Notes on the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) for Student Helpers
MPF Commencement Date 1 December 2000
Governing Laws Law of the Hong Kong SAR
Eligibility After registration as Student Helpers, students will be engaged as casual workers continuously during their course of
academic study. Actual work engagement will start subject to students’ availability and suitability of the specific work
commitment. MPF enrollment and contributions for Student Helper will start on the first day of actual work engagement.
However certain persons are exempted from the MPF requirements – these persons do not have to join the MPF Scheme.
Examples of exempt persons relevant in the context of the University include:
Those who have attained 64 years of age on 1 December 2000;
Persons holding a visa for employment purpose and:
their total permitted period of stay in Hong Kong does not exceed 13 months when they first obtain their
employment visa and they are still in their first 13 months of stay in Hong Kong; and/or
who are covered by a provident, pension, retirement or superannuation scheme (however described) of a place
outside Hong Kong.
Income definition in calculation MPF contributions are based on "MPF Relevant Income", which includes wages, salaries, leave pay, fee, commission, bonus,
of contributions gratuity, perquisite or allowance (including housing allowance and housing benefit) but does not include severance payments
or long service payments. It is currently capped at HK$30,000 per month.
Required level of employer The University will contribute to your account at 5% of your MPF Relevant Income.
contribution
This is the Employer Mandatory Contribution.
Required level of employee You need to contribute to the MPF Scheme at 5% of your MPF Relevant Income. This is the Employee Mandatory
contribution Contribution.
You can choose not to contribute in the months where your MPF Relevant Income is less than HK$7,100.
You can make additional voluntary contributions to the MPF Scheme if you wish to do so.
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First Contributions Both the University and you will have to contribute to the MPF Scheme on the first day of actual work engagement. The
University’s first contribution will count retroactively from the first day of your work engagement. Your first contribution
will count retroactively from the first day of the calendar month coincident with or following your 31 st day of work
engagement. If you leave the University within the first 60 days of engagement, no contributions to the MPF Scheme will
be necessary.
If you are an exempted person, both the University and you will have to contribute to the MPF Scheme from the date your
exemption period expires. The University’s first contribution will count retroactively from the day immediately after your
exemption period expires. Your first contribution will count retroactively from the first day of the calendar month
coincident with or following the 31st day from the expiry of your exemption. If you leave the University within 60 days
after your exemption period expires, no contributions to the MPF Scheme will be necessary.
Retirement/Leaving Service An amount equivalent to the total of your own contributions and the University’s contributions to your account, plus the
Benefit investment returns earned on those contributions.
Effective from 1 February 2016, upon retirement (whether normal retirement or for early retirement after attaining age 60),
you can withdraw your MPF benefits by instalments or in a lump sum. You may also choose to retain all MPF benefits in
your personal account for continuous investment. Withdrawals for the first four instalments in a year will be processed free
of charge by the Trustee.
Vesting Rights Your own contributions and the employer mandatory contributions are always 100% vested to you.
Preservation of benefits Benefits arising from the mandatory contributions have to be preserved within the MPF system and can only be paid upon
one of the following conditions:
(1) normal retirement at age 65
(2) early retirement after attaining age 60
(3) permanent departure from Hong Kong (which will only be permitted once)
(4) permanent disablement
(5) terminal illness
(6) death
In addition, members can withdraw their benefits from mandatory contributions if they have a small account balance (no
more than HK$5,000 at the time of printing) to which no contribution have been made in the past 12 months, and if they do
not have another account in an MPF Scheme.
Any benefit arising from voluntary contributions will not be subject to the preservation requirement, and can be paid in a
lump sum when you leave the University.
Portability Under the “Employee Choice Arrangement” effective from 1 November 2012, you are allowed to transfer your accrued
benefits (i.e. the accumulated contributions and investment returns) derived from your mandatory contributions made during
your current employment with the University to a trustee and a scheme of your choice. The transfer can be made on a lump
sum basis once every calendar year from 1 January to 31 December.
When you leave the University, you may transfer your Vested Benefit from the MPF Scheme to another MPF Scheme, or you
can also retain your Vested Benefit in the Fidelity Retirement Master Trust under a personal account.
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Offsetting of Severance Pay and Any severance or long service payment you may be entitled to under the Employment Ordinance on leaving the University
Long Service Payment will be offset against benefits derived from the University’s contributions.
Compensation Fund Coverage for A compensation fund has been set up for the purpose of compensating members of registered MPF Schemes of losses due to
the MPF Scheme misfeasance or illegal conduct of service providers of the Scheme. Subsequent to the passage of the Mandatory Provident
Fund Schemes (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2012 by the Legislative Council, an automatic levy triggering mechanism
has been introduced. When the Compensation Fund reserve exceeds the upper level of HK$1.4 billion or falls below the
floor level of HK$1 billion, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority will suspend or impose the levy (i.e. 0.03% of
the net asset value of MPF schemes) respectively. MPF schemes have been exempted from paying the levy for financial
periods commencing on or after 1 September 2012.
MPF Scheme at HKUST MPF benefits at the University will be provided through an approved Master Trust Scheme offered by a service provider.
Current Scheme: Fidelity Retirement Master Trust
HKUST’s Participation Number: OT000006140000
Scheme Sponsor FIL Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited
Trustee HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Asia) Limited
Administrator HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Asia) Limited
Investment Manager FIL Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited
Investment Options There are currently 22 options:
Fidelity SaveEasy 2020 Fund Balanced Fund
Fidelity SaveEasy 2025 Fund Capital Stable Fund
Fidelity SaveEasy 2030 Fund Growth Fund
Fidelity SaveEasy 2035 Fund Stable Growth Fund
Fidelity SaveEasy 2040 Fund Hong Kong Bond Fund
Fidelity SaveEasy 2045 Fund RMB Bond Fund
Fidelity SaveEasy 2050 Fund World Bond Fund
Asia Pacific Equity Fund MPF Conservative Fund
Global Equity Fund Default Investment Strategy*
Hong Kong Equity Fund Core Accumulation Fund
Fidelity Hong Kong Tracker Fund Age 65 Plus Fund
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Administrative costs You will bear the full cost in respect of your benefits from the MPF Scheme. The
cost is currently 0.93% p.a.(where applicable) of your account balance invested
in the MPF Conservative Fund, up to 0.70% p.a. of your account balance in
Fidelity Hong Kong Tracker Fund, and up to 1.45% p.a. of your account
invested in the Lifecycle Funds and Market Investment Funds except up to
1.20% p.a. for Hong Kong Bond Fund and RMB Bond Fund. For SaveEasy
Funds, the cost of up to 1.45% p.a. will be reduced to up to 1.20% p.a. starting
from 5 years prior to reaching the beginning of the applicable target year for the
respective SaveEasy Fund. Under DIS, or Core Accumulation Fund / Age 65
Plus Fund as individual fund, the management fee shall not exceed 0.75% p.a.
The costs are deducted daily from your account balance and are reflected in the
daily unit prices.
*Default Investment Strategy – With the launch of Default Investment Strategy on 1 April 2017, for members who do not
make specific investment options for their contributions / transfer-in asset from other schemes, by law all MPF
contributions will be invested in DIS. When members are below the age of 50, all contributions and accrued benefits will
be invested in Core Accumulation Fund (CAF). When members are between the ages of 50 and 64, all contributions and
accrued benefits will be invested according to the allocation percentages between the CAF and Age 65 Plus Fund (A65F)
as shown in the DIS de-risking Table set out in the Principal Brochure provided in the Fidelity MPF Member’s Guide.
When members reach the age of 64, all contributions and accrued benefits will be invested in the A65F.
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