After intensive research among potential MPF providers the Chamber has joined forces with CMG Asia to provide Mandatory Provident Fund services to Chamber members and others in the business community.

At a well attended press conference on 13 October, Mr CC Tung, Chamber Chairman, said for the next few months, the Chamber-CMG alliance would concentrate on providing information about the MPF, which is due to start on 1 December, 2000, through seminars, workshops, printed material, an MPF Web site and an MPF telephone "hotline".

"Early next year we are planning to offer a Chamber-CMG MPF product, however all MPF products are currently in the process of being approved by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority and we are therefore unable to talk about it ," he said.

Mr Tung said that the Chamber had found a need among members to be better informed on MPF solutions in the final 14 months before its introduction and they had indicated the Chamber should respond in a more purposeful way to their needs.

"To better serve their needs the Chamber has been examining ways to provide simple and easy MPF solutions. Being the oldest and largest business organisation in Hong Kong, we believe we understand the needs and concerns of the business community and, in particular, its needs and concerns on MPF," he said.

Mr Gary Bennett, Managing Director of CMG Asia, who also attended the press conference, said this merger marked another milestone in the growth of CMG in Hong Kong.

"The strategic alliance we are signing with The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is yet another indication of our growing presence here in Hong Kong and marks the first such alliance entered into by CMG.

The Chamber is the pre-eminent business organisation in Hong Kong. As such, it has both a tremendous profile and a tremendously important role to play as both an advocate for the business community and a service provider to the business community," he said.

Mr Bennett said there can be few issues of greater concern to the business community at the moment than the introduction of the MPF.

"Employers were naturally concerned about the implications of the MPF on operating costs, administrative workloads, productivity – in short, all the things that impact on the financial viability of a business.

"It is a credit to the Chamber that it foresaw the need to enter into a partnership with a company that has the expertise and the knowledge to be able to assist the Chamber in responding to the needs of employers for information on MPF," he said.

CMG is the only company currently operating in Hong Kong that has experience across all the aspects of operating in a compulsory pensions environment – administration, product development and funds administration.

"We have been around a long time – over 125 years in fact – and we have learned an awful lot in that time. We have been a leader in managing pension schemes in the compulsory superannuation environment in Australia and New Zealand for more than 15 years, providing pension and administration services to over three million people," he said.

Mr Bennett said the lessons CMG have learned, the experience they have gained and the expertise they have developed from this can now be used to the benefit of the Hong Kong business community.

"I suspect that we will be of most help to the small to medium business operator. And with small business being the backbone of the Hong Kong economy, that is as it should be," he said.

The very first service provided through this alliance is a dedicated "Chamber MPF Hotline" of which members of the Chamber will be able to inquire on MPF-related issues. The number of the hotline is 3183-1800 and interested parties can call between 8.30am to 5.30pm, Mondays to Fridays.