PEOPLE from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and foreign nationals working in Shenzhen can, at their own will, pay for and use the loans of housing provident funds, according to an updated regulation that took effect Thursday.

Employees working in the covered sectors in the city are automatically enrolled in the program. Both participants and their employers pay a specific percentage of their gross salary to the individual accounts. The contributions from both parties are tax-exempt.

The move is to create a better environment for these groups of people working in the city, the city’s housing provident fund management center said.

The new rule further simplifies application procedures, relieves the burden of enterprises and housing fund transfers between different cities.

As the center shares business registration information with the city’s market supervision authority, newly established entities and units can complete the corporate registration of the housing provident fund when they register their business at the market supervision authority.

To meet the demand of job transfers and cross-city employment, employees who want to transfer their housing provident funds out of Shenzhen can apply with their ID card and fund account information at the center’s offices in Futian, Bao’an and Longgang. The city’s housing provident fund system has been connected with the national network, saving the trouble and time of going between two cities to transfer the funds. (Han Ximin)