Hong Kong Company Registrations Hit New Record

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

10 January 2012

The number of local companies newly registered with the Hong Kong Companies Registry in 2011 hit a record high of 148,329, an increase of 6.31% from 2010, according to figures released on January 8.

According to the new Companies Registry data, the total number of live local companies registered stood at 956,392 at the end of 2011, up 92,630 from the end of 2010.

The number of companies incorporated in July reached a record of 24,957. Registrar of Companies Ada Chung said the figure doubled the average monthly incorporations of around 11,000 for 2010 and may be attributable to the local economic environment and expiration of the waiver of business registration fees for new companies in August.

The registration fee for a one-year certificate is normally HKD2,450 (USD315), made up of a HKD2,000 fee and a HKD450 levy, but a special concession was introduced in 2008 waiving the fee for business registration certificates with a commencement date in 2008-09. This waiver was reintroduced from August 1, 2009 for a further two-year period.

There were 798 non-Hong Kong companies that established a place of business in Hong Kong and were newly registered under Part XI of the Companies Ordinance, up 8.28% from the corresponding period in 2010. The total number of non-Hong Kong companies registered stood at 8,554 at the end of last year.

Chung said with the introduction of the one-stop electronic company incorporation and business registration service at the new e-Registry platform in March, 15,248 companies had been incorporated online at the end of last year.

In 2011, the number of charges on assets of companies received for registration was 37,673, down 8.86% from 2010. The number of memoranda of satisfaction and releases received for registration fell 6.02% to 27,851.

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