Hong Kong’s PCCW Solutions, owned by tycoon Li Ka-Shing’s son Richard Li, has won the tender to develop a centralised digital platform for the Mandatory Provident Fund, marking a key milestone for the HK$1 trillion (US$128.2 billion) public retirement scheme.
Singapore’s iFAST Corporation is a subcontractor for the project.
The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), supervisor of the MPF industry, announced the winning bidder late last week. It opened the tender in December 2019 as part of plans to automate administration of Hong Kong’s largest retirement scheme for its 4.3 million members.
The contract is for a two-year implementation period and a seven-year operation/maintenance period. It may be extended for up to three years.
In the October 2020 issue of
Asia Asset Management, we argued against writing off bonds just because yields are in low territory. This is due to bonds having a multi-functional role in capital markets: in the provision of liquidity, preservation of capital, and, indeed, in the supply of income, at least in the case of higher-yielding corporate and convertible bonds.
In this article, we shall focus purely on convertible bonds.
Hybrid security
A convertible bond is a hybrid security. It looks like a plain-vanilla corporate bond, meaning it bears a maturity date, coupon payment, face value and credit risk. However, it also includes an option to convert into a predetermined number of shares of the common stock of the underlying company.
Wake-up call for Wall Street
Poor Wall Street. The players and their Republican allies are reportedly discomfited at President Joe Biden’s picks of Gary Gensler and Rohit Chopra to head the Securities and Exchange Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, respectively. They have reputations as progressives within the Democratic party.
The Philippines’ House of Representatives approved legislation to suspend further increases to the Social Security System (SSS) contribution rate despite objections from the pension fund’s chief executive officer, who warned it would worsen the fund’s already “dire” financial position.
House of Representatives Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, who had proposed the legislation, argued that postponing the rate hikes would provide “much-needed relief” to Filipinos coping with fallout from the coronavirus crisis.
“These are extraordinary times, thus the remedy needed to further unburden our countrymen are also extraordinary,” he says in a statement on January 21 after his bill won lawmakers’ approval.
AAM team.
To honour all awardees,
Asia Asset Management will be hosting a virtual awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. On that day too, we will be hosting a couple of online forums to discuss the latest issues and trends on pensions and investments.
Once again, we extend our heartiest congratulations to all awardees and we wish you continued success.
From all of us at
AAM.
Disclaimer
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