had a chat with pin the other day over drinks on this..
i don't think the issue is about having more competitors and fees will reduce..
there are enough competitors and due to this, the assets at individual mpf provider is probably not sufficient for them to lower the fees..
TBH, i did not study the structure in detail, but i suspect the original structure setup of MPF by HK gov tried to play it too smart and conservative, adding layers and layers into the structure. Once you do that, the cost in maintaining the layers just made the lawyers rich and the investors poorer..
Contrasting the singapore structure, cpf is like a saving account and investments can be made from cpf into listed ETFs, etc... (even though the choices of listed ETF in singapore is miserable)... so in a way its more efficient and cost optimal..