Custodians urge more effective approval process

A group of major custodians involved with Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) have sent a request to the city's pension regulator demanding a speeding up of the approval process for depositories and sub custodians. Without it, they believe managers' investment options could be severely restricted when the retirement scheme kicks off in two weeks time.Under MPF rules, all sub custodians and depositories used by MPF custodians have to be approved by the Mandatory Provident Fund A…