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Conduct Requirements

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1. How to determine that an instruction to a registered intermediary has been carried out promptly under item III.18 of the “Guidelines on Conduct Requirements for Registered Intermediaries”?
Where a registered intermediary, in the course of conducting a regulated activity, takes all reasonable steps to carry out client instructions promptly and accurately and informs the client that his/her instruction(s) will be passed to the eMPF Platform within a reasonable specific period of time and that this timeframe is subsequently met, then item III. 18 of the Guidelines  may generally be considered as being satisfied.

The registered intermediary should exercise reasonableness in determining the "specific period of time" in order to ensure that client instructions are carried out "promptly". The key is to keep clients informed and to ensure that the spirit of this Guidelines  is followed.  In case of any delay or failure to execute the client’s instructions by the registered intermediary, the client should be alerted by the registered intermediary within a reasonable time.
2. Does a registered intermediary need to exercise extra care and provide additional support to an elderly scheme member as to whether, when or how much of his/her accrued benefits are to be withdrawn?
In general, subsidiary intermediaries should exercise extra care and provide additional support in advising elderly scheme members who may not be able to make an independent decision on whether, when or how much of his/her accrued benefits are to be withdrawn. Principal intermediaries should develop appropriate procedures to deal with elderly scheme members for their subsidiary intermediaries to follow. 
3. If the withdrawal by instalments involves guaranteed funds, what should a registered intermediary do?
The registered intermediary should follow the relevant requirements in items III.19, III.44, III.49 and III.50 of the Guidelines on Conduct Requirements for Registered Intermediaries  and draw the scheme member’s attention to the possible impacts of withdrawal by instalments from the guaranteed funds.
4. Does a registered intermediary need to conduct a suitability assessment when carrying on regulated activity for a scheme member in relation to whether, when or how much of his/her accrued benefits are to be withdrawn?
The withdrawal decision may have materially adverse consequences for a scheme member, if such decision does not suit his/her personal circumstances and the scheme member who without the relevant knowledge may rely on his/her subsidiary intermediary for professional advice. Therefore, principal intermediaries should develop appropriate suitability assessment procedures and internal guidelines for their subsidiary intermediaries to follow.
5. If a subsidiary intermediary (SI), when carrying on regulated activities, uses the Assistant Portal of the eMPF™ Platform to prepare a relevant form for the scheme administration instructions for the client, does he/she need to provide a copy of the form to the client? (Note: An SI can use the Assistant Portal to prepare a form for the client’s scheme administration instructions and forward the form to the client for review. After client’s review, the client can submit the completed form to the eMPF™ Platform for processing the instructions.)

The SI can keep a copy of the form that he/she uses the Assistant Portal to prepare for and forward to the client. Once the form is forwarded to the client for his/her review following the system flow of the eMPF™ Platform, a reference number will be generated to the SI by the eMPF™ Platform. As required by paragraph III.3 of the Conduct Guidelines, a copy of the relevant form forwarded to the client (no matter the form is signed or not), together with the reference number generated by the eMPF™ Platform, should be provided to the client for record as soon as reasonably practicable by the SI or his/her principal intermediary and kept by the principal intermediary for a minimum period of seven years to facilitate the retrieval of transaction record and follow-up with the client.  

6. If an SI assists a client in giving scheme administration instructions on the eMPF™ Platform that the client logs on to (without utilizing the Assistant Portal), is the SI required to provide the client with a copy of the electronic form containing the client’s instructions?

Generally speaking, if the client submits the form containing the scheme administration instructions through the client’s own account of eMPF™ Platform directly, the SI is not required to provide a copy of the form to the client, and the PI is not required to keep a copy of the form for a minimum period of seven years. 

 

If, during the course of providing assistance to the client to give scheme administration instructions, the SI has carried on regulated activities (RAs1), the SI (and/or his/her principal Intermediary (PI)) should comply with the requirements under the Conduct Guidelines, which include but are not limited to paragraph III.58 of the Conduct Guidelines that any regulated advice given, including the rationale underlying the advice, should be documented by the SI (and/or his/her PI) and acknowledged by the client with the client’s signature. In addition, a physical or an electronic copy of such document should be provided to the client, and the PI should keep the original document if signed physically, or all the electronic records if signed electronically for a minimum period of seven years.

 

 

1. For more information on RAs, please refer to other FAQs on the MPFA website

Remarks: The list of FAQs may not cover all possible scenarios encountered by registered intermediaries, and the MPFA reserves the right to add, update, or delete FAQs as necessary to support registered intermediaries in compliance with the statutory requirements and relevant guidelines (as amended from time to time) when using the eMPF™ Platform.

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