Hong Kong’s MPF set to report worst performance in 3 years in March

he MPF’s March performance is expected to make for poor reading for the scheme’s 4.8 million members.

Photo: May Tse Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) is poised to report a loss of over HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) for March this week, its worst monthly loss in dollar terms since its inception 25 years ago.

The sharp fall in global stock markets last month hit the MPF hard, while the uncertainties ahead stemming from the Middle East conflict have led the pension regulator and analysts to urge the 4.8 million members to adopt a diversified approach.

The 378 MPF investment funds suffered a HK$103.3 billion loss in the first three weeks of last month, according to MPF Ratings, an independent pension research firm.

On average, each member lost HK$21,542 during the same period.

The funds posted a loss of 6.33 per cent in the first three weeks of March, the worst since September 2022, when they lost 7.87 per cent, according to data from MPF Ratings.

Francis Chung, the chairman of MPF Ratings, said he expected the pension fund’s full-month loss to exceed HK$100 billion, the largest monthly loss since the compulsory retirement scheme was launched in December 2000.

The MPF investment funds reported an average net return of 16.5 per cent in 2025, the third consecutive year the scheme returned an annual gain.

Photo: Edmond So “Because of the war in the Middle East, the global capital markets in March fluctuated a lot, which negatively affected the MPF’s performance,” said Kenrick Chung, chief corporate solutions officer at Bay Insurance Brokers in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 7 per cent in March, the benchmark’s worst monthly performance in three years.

The index shed 12 per cent from its late January high of 28,056, closing at 24,788 at the end of March.

Other US and Asian markets also fell sharply in March after the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February, as investors started to factor in the consequences of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East by trimming their exposure to risk assets. “As uncertainty intensifies, MPF members should not try to time the market,” Kenrick Chung said.

The pension regulator, Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), urged members not to focus on short-term losses as that may lead them to “buy high and sell low”, according to its managing director Cheng Yan-chee. “MPF is a long-term investment spanning over 40 years, which will inevitably cover economic cycles and market fluctuat

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