In 2024, MPF assets reached HKD 1.29 trillion; HSBC saw the highest market share growth; US Equity funds attracted HKD 20 billion

Jan 17, 2025
Reading Time: 6 minutes

[Hong Kong, January 17, 2025] GUM released the December 2024 MPF market analysis report. As of December 31, total MPF assets declined by 0.5% to HKD 1.29 trillion. In terms of market share, Manulife led with 27.8%, followed by HSBC (17.8%) and Sun Life (11.0%). Including AIA (9.1%) and BOC Prudential (7.4%), the top five providers accounted for over 73.1% of the MPF market.

Throughout 2024, HSBC saw the most significant market share increase, rising by 0.21%, mainly driven by investment returns. The largest decline was Principal, which decreased by 0.24% due to “Net switching” outflows. [See Table 1 for details.]

Table 1: 2024 Market Share of MPF Providers (Top 10)

 2024 Full Year Change in Market Shares
Market Share RankProviderMarket SharesDue to Net SwitchingDue to Investment ReturnTotal change
1Manulife27.8%0.50%-0.41%0.09%
2HSBC17.8%-0.07%0.28%0.21%
3Sun Life11.0%0.11%-0.17%-0.06%
4AIA9.1%0.02%0.09%0.11%
5BOC-Prud7.4%0.07%0.09%0.16%
6BCT7.1%-0.17%-0.02%-0.19%
7Hang Seng5.8%-0.03%0.12%0.09%
8Principal5.2%-0.26%0.02%-0.24%
9Fidelity4.3%-0.06%0.04%-0.02%
10BEA2.5%-0.04%-0.03%-0.07%

In 2024, MPF members primarily directed their funds into equity funds. In the second and third quarters, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts, combined with an August surge in yen short-covering, led to stock market adjustments, attracting funds toward fixed-income funds.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, net inflows into equity funds were approximately HKD 3.46 billion, largely from outflows from mixed-asset funds (around HKD 2.34 billion), while fixed-income funds saw a slight outflow of about HKD 1.12 billion. This shift is believed to be due to a rebound in global equity markets after the third-quarter adjustments, alongside China’s economic stimulus measures and the re-election of Trump, whose strong dollar policy slowed the pace of interest rate cuts, reducing the attractiveness of bond funds.

Table 2:Est. Net Fund Switching in Major Asset Categories per quarter for 2024

Figures may not sum up to the total due to rounding

In 2024, the top five asset classes with the highest net outflows were: “Hong Kong Equity Funds,” “Mixed Asset Funds (80% to 100% equities),” “Hong Kong Equity Funds (Index Tracking),” “Mixed Asset Funds (60% to 80% equities),” and “Greater China Equity Funds.” The largest net outflows were from “Hong Kong Equity Funds” and “Mixed Asset Funds (80% to 100% equities),” totalling HKD 9.8 billion and HKD 8.8 billion, respectively.

On the other hand, the top five asset classes with the highest net inflows in 2024 were: “US Equity Funds,” “Default Investment Strategy – Core Accumulation Fund,” “MPF Conservative Fund,” “Global Bond Funds,” and “Default Investment Strategy – Post-65 Fund.” The “US Equity Funds” saw net inflows for 10 months, totalling HKD 20.3 billion, making it the fund with the highest inflow among MPF fund types, followed by the “Default Investment Strategy – Core Accumulation Fund,” which received about HKD 8.5 billion. [See Table 4 for details.]

GUM’s Strategy and Investment Analyst, Martin Wan, pointed out, “Despite a significant rebound in the Hong Kong and China stock markets due to strong central stimulus policies, there was still a net outflow of HKD 23.2 billion from Greater China and Hong Kong equities, while around HKD 20 billion flowed into US equity funds during the same period. With Trump’s return in 2025, geopolitical and tariff uncertainties could lead to significant market volatility. Members should avoid excessive concentration in a single market when allocating MPF assets and should reasonably diversify across different asset classes based on their risk tolerance.”

Table 3: Top Five Fund Asset Types with Net Fund Switching out in 2024 (in HKD million)

RankAsset Class20242024 Dec
1Hong Kong Equity Fund(HK$9,756)(HK$391)
2Mixed Asset Fund- (80-100% Equity)(HK$8,798)(HK$561)
3Hong Kong Equity Fund (Index Tracking)(HK$7,776)(HK$528)
4Mixed Asset Fund- (60-80% Equity)(HK$6,646)(HK$456)
5Greater China Equity Fund(HK$5,756)(HK$234)

Table 4: Top Five Fund Asset Types with Net Fund Switching in 2024 (in HKD million)

RankAsset Class20242024 Dec
1United States Equity FundHK$20,336HK$2,503
2DIS Core Accumulation FundHK$8,448HK$630
3MPF Conservative FundHK$7,112HK$130
4Global Bond FundHK$4,726(HK$125)
5DIS Age 65 Plus FundHK$3,653HK$187

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