Saving society

摘要

Before half past ten on February ist, Bruce Cheung had never given a moment's thought to Hong Kong's approaching switch to a new pensions system. Mr Cheung wears snazzy yellow-rimmed glasses and runs Mission 2, a chic hair-style salon in Hong Kong's business centre. It so happened that David Humphreys, the chief executive of HSBC's pensions arm, came in that morning for one of his occasional HK $390 ($50) haircuts. A few hours earlier, HSBC, along with 20 other banks, insurers and fund managers, had been given the regulator's go-ahead to start marketing the new pension schemes. So by the time a spruce Mr Humphreys walked out again, Mr Cheung had become HSBC's, and quite probably Hong Kong's, first new pensions customer.