The Hong Kong Investment Fund Association HKIFA has decided to use the FTSE All World Index as a benchmark for managers of retirement funds under the city's incoming Mandatory Provident Fund MPF scheme, ruffling some North American managers in the rival MSCI camp.
According to presentations made to fund managers by Watson Wyatt and Micropal, who jointly advise the investment fund body on which index to use, roughly half of Hong Kong's indexers track FTSE while the rest chase MSCI. Although the two indexes are similar in many respects, the advisers say the new series of FTSE indices cover more countries and stocks with a higher daily trading volume and lower tracking costs...
