HK Company Formation Requirements

It is easy to form a limited company incorporated in Hong Kong (HK). There are almost no restrictions provided that there are no existing HK companies with identical names and no well known companies with similar names. It requires at least one director and one shareholder, a resident company secretary and a HK registered office. However, none of the directors nor shareholders are required to be HK residents. Our Firm may provide the services of HK resident company secretary and registered office. Further, a HK company's name must end with the word "Limited", but is not required to contain the words "Hong Kong".

NOMINEE DIRECTORS' & SHAREHOLDERS' SERVICES

We may act as the registered shareholders and directors of our clients' companies holding the companies' shares on trust of our clients. Therefore no one, except the HK Inland Revenue Department (IRD), can find out that the companies are actually owned by our clients, and the IRD have a statutory duty not to disclose any information to any one. Our clients' interest in the companies is protected by documents called "Declaration of Trust", which are duly signed by us and stamped by the IRD.

BANK ACCOUNT REQUIREMENTS


HSBC

  1. One director must come to HK or China. All other directors, shareholders & bank authorized signatories may come to Hong Kong or go to their branch/subsidiary in any country (except for Taiwan), so that they can witness their signatures and verify their passport copies.
  2. All directors and shareholders are required to provide address proof (e.g. original water/telephone bill or bank statement issued within 2 months).
  3. You need to write some brief description about the nature of business, countries of operations, suppliers and customers, forecast turnover and some brief business background of the directors/shareholders in that industry. You may sometimes also need to provide an invoice/contract for sales/purchase and a business brochure for an existing company with documents to prove that you are a shareholder/director.

Hang Seng Bank (member of HSBC Group and using the same internet banking system)

  1. All directors, shareholders & bank authorized signatories may come to Hong Kong or go to a branch/subsidiary of Hang Seng Bank or HSBC so that they can witness their signatures and verify their passport copies.
  2. All directors and shareholders are required to provide address proof (e.g. original water/telephone bill or bank statement issued within 2 months).

Standard Chartered Bank

  1. All directors, shareholders & bank authorized signatories may come to Hong Kong or go to their branch/subsidiary (not representative office) in any country (except for Taiwan and China), so that they can witness their signatures and verify their passport copies. You can find the addresses of their branches at www.standardchartered.com/global/home/globalbranch_content.html
  2. All directors, shareholders & bank authorized signatories need to provide address proof, e.g. original water/telephone bill, bank statement issued within 2 months. If any address proof is not in English nor Chinese, you are required to have a local lawyer to translate it into English and certify its English version.

DBS Bank

  1. At least one directors & bank authorized signatories must come to Hong Kong. The other directors, shareholders & bank authorized signatories may go to their branch/subsidiary in Asia (not all branches can do this).
  2. All directors and shareholders are required to provide address proof (e.g. original water/telephone bill or bank statement issued within 2 months).
  3. Business proof may be required, e.g. some documents of an existing company to prove business, e.g. a couple invoices/contracts for sales/purchase for the new company or an existing company with same business with documents to prove that you are a shareholder/director.

BANK ACCOUNT OPERATIONS

Bank accounts in HK can be operated outside HK in the following ways :

Phone Banking Service/Internet Banking Service

All the above 4 banks provide Internet Banking Service, by which you can use Internet to assess your bank accounts for making balance enquiries and transfers. There is no limit for making transfers for Standard Chartered Bank or DBA Bank, but the maximum limit for transfers is HK$5,000,000 per day for HSBC and Hang Seng Bank. Standard Chartered Bank has a set up fee of HK$800 and a monthly fee of about HK$200 to HK$300. For the other 3 banks, the bank charge is only several hundred HK$ per annum without a set up fee.

ATM Card

You can use their ATM card to withdraw money from the Company's bank accounts using any specified ATM machines ("Sirrus" for Standard Chartered Bank and "Plus" for HSBC, Hang Seng Bank and DBS) in the world. There will be a bank charge for each transaction and some exchange loss.

We will assist our clients to open bank accounts with one bank only.

Taxation In HK, there is no tax charge on fund transfers between bank accounts, including deposits and withdrawal.