Registered Local Companies in Hong Kong Hit1.4 million

Do you know that the total number of registered local companies in Hong Kong has just surpassed 1.4 million at the end of June 2018? Well, the government authority in Hong Kong has helped companies for maintaining monetary, banking stability and the registration and incorporation for doing business.

According to government statistics that were released by the Companies Registry on 8th of July, the total number of registered local companies came out to be 1,407,743 at the end of June of this year, up 23,797 on this figure by the end of 2017.

In fact, in the first half of 2018, about 85,449 local companies were newly registered, from which 30,447 were incorporated online through the business registration service at the e-Registry and one-stop electronic company incorporation.

From the 1st of March, all Hong Kong incorporated companies must maintain an up-to-date ownership information in the form of a Significant Controllers Register, with an exception for listed companies. Companies should be aware that they are required to maintain a Significant Controllers Register as it may be inspected time to time by law enforcement officers, in order to stay compliant with the Company Ordinance.

Moreover, The Hong Kong government has also introduced a new licensing regime in which all trusts of Hong Kong or company service providers need to apply for this license through the Company Registry, so that they can provide company services or act as a trust in Hong Kong.

According to a Quarterly Report of Hong Kong businesses, on the corporate banking and commercial front, vacancies are already increasing in line with the usual movement around the bonus payout period. And within the management and operational risk, firms are increasingly embedding their risk within the business instead of looking outside.

The Hong Kong’s regulatory administration has recently introduced numerous initiatives in an effort to combat terrorist financing and money laundering. And now the Registry is conducting site inspections in order to ensure proper compliance according to the new requirements of Hong Kong government for doing business.

On the other hand, the total number of non-Hong Kong companies that have settled in Hong Kong by way of doing business reached 10,755 as of the end of June. Among these, 592 companies were newly registered under the Companies Ordinance in the first half of 2018 comparison with 566 non-Hong Kong companies in the second half of 2017.

The number of charges on the assets of companies received for registration in the first half of the year was 10,372, a 4.8 percent decrease from 10,895 in the second half of 2017. However, the number of notifications for the payments and releases were found to be 12,445 for the registration in the first half of 2018, which showed an increment of 6.44 percent as compared to the second half of the year 2017.

The total number of the documents for various companies in Hong Kong received for the registration process during the time first six months of 2018 was 1,729,547, which was higher than the documents which were collected during the second of 2017 by 21.34 percent. The number of documents received for registration had also witnessed an increase of about 10.5 percent, when compared to the figure of 2,263,567 in the second half of 2017.

Hong Kong is a hub for international sourcing and a leading services platform for many business entities. And Startupr has helped many companies in the process of incorporation and registration for doing business in Hong Kong. For more information, contact Startupr for incorporating your business entity.