Hong Kong has emerged as the paradise of investors. Whether you want to invest in telecoms or hospitality industry among other sectors, no place is better than Hong Kong.
As one of the most liberal economies globally, Hong Kong has the best business environment that businesses need to grow faster and become multinationals. Well, think of the huge market that is mainland China and the opportunity that it will present to your business after setting operations in Hong Kong. To take advantage of this great market, you must make the first step; registering a company. In this post, essential steps: incorporating a company in Hong Kong, you get everything you want to enter this enthralling market.
You can either incorporate a company in Hong-Kong on your own or use an agency. If you prefer doing it on your own, you have to fly all the way to Hong Kong and present the documents to the registrar of companies.
Gather all the relevant documents
The office of company registration wants to have a clear picture of your company and how it will operate. Therefore, you need to gather the following documents before presenting them.
- Address of Hong Kong secretary
- Name ideas for the company
- Office location and contacts
- copies of shareholders passports
- Minute books about the decision to open a company
- The article of association
From the moment you present the documents, it will take about two weeks to process and release the certificate of incorporation. However, additional 14 days to open a corporate banking account will be required.
Get a correspondence office and secretary for the company
A correspondence office and secretary are the contact points for the Hong Kong administration with your company. Therefore, you have to get them right. If you will not be very active in Hong Kong, consider getting a shared office and secretary to keep the cost as low as possible. When selecting a shared office, you need to check for secretarial services, phone answering and scanning services, special rooms, board rooms, and business lounges.
Search for a company name
To make your business unique and attractive, you must have a name that is different from others. The Hong Kong office of company registration maintains a large database that new companies are required to search so that they can select a name that does not bring about conflict of interest. As an online and free database, you can check for the name from anywhere in the world. If you prefer the agency, the name can be searched on your behalf.
Registering a company using an agency
If you find it difficult to travel to Hong Kong or want to hasten the process, a better method of incorporating the company is using an agency.
The agency guides clients on how to prepare the documents and even assists to make some items such as articles of association to raise the chances of successfully incorporating a company. Besides, agencies are very useful in selecting a secretary for you and getting a correspondence office. If you want to operate the company from abroad, the agency can even organize for bookkeeping and other services.
Once the agency has incorporated the company for you, it will send the following documents to you;
- Certificate of Incorporation
- Business Registration Certificate
- The articles of association
- The certificate of share ownership
- The book of decisions of the assemblies
- The two stamps of your company
- The company seal
Opening a bank account
To commence your operations, you need an operational bank account where your clients can deposit payments or e-commerce store can channel payments. Notably, Banks require that you travel to Hong Kong to open an offshore bank account.
The banks have become more inquisitive and want to know you more and the nature of the business to prevent fraud. The chances of succeeding to open a bank account after registering a company are very high.
For people who prefer to buy already registered companies, the process of opening a bank account is long, difficult, and almost impossible. All the shareholders are required to present themselves, and banks take longer scrutinizing the change.