Only one-sixth of Hong Kong's 300,000 businesses have signed up with a pension provider, even though the launch of the Mandatory Provident Fund is less than five months away. The remainder are waiting for a better deal. And the media, the providers complain, are partly to blame because of their obsessive reporting on the levels of fees.
As the trustees battle for market share, fees and incentives have become the ultimate weapons. CMG Asia is the latest to drop practically all fees, including trustee, custody, administration and management fees for the first 13 months upon joining. Even now, the company is non-committal about whether more fees will be waived.
Meanwhile, trustees...
