Is There Still an IIQE "Paper IV"? The MPF Examination Left in 2013

Last updated 2026-08-09

Search for "IIQE Paper IV" and you will still find preparation material and guides on sale. In the official framework, the IIQE has had no Paper IV for over a decade.

The official wording

"With effect from 2 May 2013, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Examination, formerly Paper IV, ceased to form part of the Insurance Intermediaries Qualifying Examination." — Examination handbook, clause 2.1.5

The same clause goes on to state that the MPF intermediaries examination is specified by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority and has its own separately produced handbook.

What the IIQE contains today

Clause 2.1.1 lists:

There is no IV in the numbering. The sequence goes from V straight to VI — and that gap is what 2013 left behind.

Why the industry still says "Paper IV"

Because the MPF examination itself still exists. It simply moved to a different authority and a different framework — specified by the MPFA, no longer part of the IIQE system that the Insurance Authority appoints the VTC to administer.

Practitioners carrying an old name forward in conversation is natural. Putting it into a study plan is where it costs something, in one of two directions:

• Sitting too much: assuming an insurance licence requires "Papers I through V" and sitting an MPF

examination that was never required

• Sitting too little: assuming "the full IIQE set" covers everything, and discovering only later

that MPF work needs a separate qualification

How to decide whether you need it

Separate two questions:

1. Which papers does my intended line of insurance business require? → Use the official

business-category table. That table contains only Papers I, II, III and V.

1. Do I intend to carry on MPF-related business? → That is a separate qualification, governed by

the MPFA's own examination handbook, outside the scope of the IIQE handbook entirely.

The answers are independent of each other. Asking them separately is how you avoid both overspending and gaps.

A wording suggestion

When confirming anything with your firm or with the examination centre, say "MPF Examination (MPFE)" rather than "Paper IV". Searching official documents for "Paper IV" will not surface current rules — because officially, that is no longer its name.

Sources and currency

The paper structure and the date the MPF examination separated are taken from clauses 2.1.1 and 2.1.5 of the Insurance Intermediaries Qualifying Examination (Paper-and-Pencil and Computer-based Modes) Handbook, applicable from 1 September 2025, retrieved 2026-08-09. Arrangements for the MPF intermediaries examination are specified by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority in a separate handbook and are outside the scope of this page.

The handbook is versioned and paper arrangements are subject to change. Check the current official version before enrolling. Mange is not an official body. Nothing here is enrolment advice; the official announcements of the Insurance Authority, the MPFA and the PEAK Examination Centre govern.