As at 30 November 2008, there are 38 MPF schemes in the market that provide an aggregate of 340 constituent funds. On average, scheme members can choose between about 8 types of funds within an MPF scheme.

The law requires all MPF schemes to offer at a minimum, a capital preservation fund (CPF) in each scheme. In order to meet the different risk tolerance levels of scheme members, all MPF schemes in the market provide choices in addition to a CPF. The range of the funds on offer may go from low risk steady growth options, to higher risk (potentially) higher growth options.

The following types of funds are available in most MPF schemes:

Money Market Fund	Guaranteed Fund	Bond Fund
Mixed Assets Fund	Equity Fund	Others

Others

• Index Fund
  An index fund has the sole investment objective of tracking the performance of a particular market index such as Hang Send Index, S&P 500 or an iBoxx bond index. A typical index fund is passively managed, which means that constituent securities of the relevant index are bought and sold within the fund in accordance with their respective weightings in the index. This would enable the fund to perform largely in line with the underlying market index.

  An index fund tends to trade less frequently than an actively managed fund. Generally speaking, fewer transactions will result in lower administrative and management costs to fund holders than an actively managed fund.

  Click here for an overview of the different types of MPF funds.