This Sept 20, 2020, photo shows a general view of the Victoria Harbour next to commercial and residential buildings in Hong Kong. (MAY JAMES / AFP)
HONG KONG – There were 50,087 new local companies registered under the Companies Ordinance in the first six months of the year, down 11.0 percent on the same period last year, Hong Kong's Companies Registry said Friday.
Meanwhile, the number of new non-local companies that had established a place of business in Hong Kong and registered under the Companies Ordinance was 415, a decrease of 37.3 percent on the same period last year, latest statistics released by the registry showed.
Registry has extended its electronic submission services since June 27 to facilitate delivery of documents in electronic form to the Registry to meet the rising expectations and changing needs of businesses and the public
The city's latest unemployment rate for March-May was 5.1 percent, a drop from its one-year high of 5.4 percent registered in the February-April period. Stringent social-distancing curbs imposed at the height of the city’s raging fifth COVID-19 wave have taken their toll on businesses.
READ MORE: HK jobless rate jumps to 5.4%, highest since mid-2021
The total number of local companies registered at the end of June was 1,386,592, up 2,088 on the end June 2021. The total number of non-local companies registered stood at 14,481, up 437 from end-June last year.
The number of charges on the assets of companies received in the first six months rose 9.2 percent to 9,176 while the number of payments and releases received increased 0.6 percent to 9,654.
Registrar of Companies Kitty Tsui said the Registry has extended its electronic submission services since June 27 to facilitate delivery of documents in electronic form to the Registry to meet the rising expectations and changing needs of businesses and the public.
Currently, a total of 43 newly covered documents can be delivered electronically through the e-Registry portal of the Registry or GovHK, according to Tsui.
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Meanwhile, phase 2 of the new inspection regime of the Companies Register under the Companies Ordinance will take place on Oct 24. Sensitive personal information on the Index of Directors on the Companies Register and newly delivered documents will be protected.
The Registry has revised 26 specified forms that pertain to the reporting of the above sensitive personal information and published the same in the Gazette on June 24. These revised forms will be used upon the implementation of phase 2 of the new inspection regime, according to the Registry.