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Another inflation-linked retail bond designed for the elderly is to be launched in Hong Kong in a move aimed at fueling the city's bonds market which has long seen a dearth of investment options for an ageing population merely protected by strained pensions.

The market has greeted the move with mixed reactions, with some experts calling it a good long-term plan for risk-averse elderly investors, while others warned that the elderly may have a rather vague understanding of how the bonds operate.

It comes a just a week after Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah revealed in his 2016-17 Budget that Hong Kong dollar-denominated "silver bonds", tailored-made for local senior citizens aged 65 or above and with a maturity of three years under the first batch to be issued, will be rolled out under a pilot program in the next two years.

The new investment products are poised to guarantee a yield linked to the SAR's Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI) of at least 2 percent if inflation is lower than 2 percent, compared with the minimum 1 percent for existing iBonds which are open to all residents aged 18 or above.

Hong Kong's CPI rose 2.7 percent in January from a year ago - higher than a year-on-year rise of 2.5 percent in December last year.

According to Tsang, one-tenth of Hong Kong's 600,000 iBond subscribers as of the end of last year were citizens aged above 65, which speaks volumes about the growing appetite of the city's 1.15 million elderly residents for investment products that offer stable returns.

Tsang said the government hopes the elderly would have another reliable investment option with "silver bonds", for which they could hardly find alternatives in the local market.

And, with the government taking the lead, financial services institutions in Hong Kong can be encouraged to explore more investment opportunities for elderly investors. "If the government doesn't do that, no market player will," said Tsang.

The sixth round of iBonds valued at up to HK$10 billion is due to be launched soon.

But, unlike iBonds, "silver bonds" cannot be traded in the secondary market, where it would be difficult to check whether they have actually been bought by the elderly.

Instead, subscribers can only sell the bonds to the issuing body, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, if they want to get back their investment before maturity in three full years.

Perseus Lam, Hong Kong-based chief wealth management adviser at Convoy, believed that "silver bonds" could be a good long-term deal for risk-averse elderly investors, who would normally focus on capital preservation and interest income.

However, there may also be a lot of hurdles. Elderly investors are usually found to face a slew of restrictions on setting up a bonds account at a local bank or financial institution - an account into which the bank or financial institution can distribute coupon payments and the like. Besides, the elderly tend to find it more difficult to have an understanding of new bonds, said Paul Pong Po-lam, Hong Kong-based chief executive of Pegasus Fund Managers.

"It's believed the actual number of eligible senior investors with valid bond accounts can be rather small. It may turn out that only experienced senior investors or wealthy ones with professionals taking care of their accounts will join the pilot program," Pong said.

There are also worries that, for Hong Kong's cash-strapped senior citizens, it appears there's still a burning desire for the long-awaited universal pension program rather than "silver bonds".

However, Tsang argued that "silver bonds" and a universal pension program are two entirely different things.

sophia@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 03/02/2016 page9)