the group operates various defined benefit and defined contribution retirement schem 600808

Retirement benefits

The Group operates various defined benefit and defined contribution retirement schemes for its employees in Hong Kong and in certain overseas locations. The assets of these schemes are held in funds administered by independent trustees. The retirement schemes in Hong Kong are registered under and comply with the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (“MPFSO”). Most of the employees engaged outside Hong Kong are covered by appropriate local arrangements.

The Group operates the following principal schemes:

(a) Defined benefit retirement schemes

The Swire Group Retirement Benefit Scheme (“SGRBS”) in Hong Kong, in which the Company and Cathay Pacific Catering Services (H.K.) Limited (“CPCS”) are participating employers, provides resignation and retirement benefits to its members, which include the Company’s cabin attendants who joined before September 1996 and other locally engaged employees who joined before June 1997, upon their cessation of service. The Company and CPCS meet the full cost of all benefits due by SGRBS to their employee members who are not required to contribute to the scheme.

Staff employed by the Company in Hong Kong on expatriate terms before April 1993 were eligible to join another scheme, the Cathay Pacific Airways Limited Retirement Scheme (“CPALRS”). Both members and the Company contribute to CPALRS.

The latest actuarial valuation of CPALRS and the portion of SGRBS funds specifically designated for the Company’s employees were completed by a qualified actuary, Watson Wyatt Hong Kong Limited, as at 31st December 2009 using the projected unit credit method. The figures for SGRBS and CPALRS disclosed as at 31st December 2010 were provided by Cannon Trustees Limited, the administration manager.