132k firms newly registered in 2023

The total number of local companies registered in Hong Kong stood at 1,430,758 at the end of 2023, with 132,246 having been newly registered during the year, the Companies Registry announced today.

In 2023, 960 non-Hong Kong companies registered a newly established place of business in Hong Kong under the Companies Ordinance.

The total number of registered non-Hong Kong companies reached 14,826 by the end of 2023, up 2.02% year-on-year.

As for the licensing of trust or company service providers under the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance, a total of 429 licences were granted, taking the number of licensees to 6,945 by the end of 2023.

The number of charges paid for registration of properties of companies was 12,368, while the number of notifications of payments and releases was 17,648. There were also 2,997,459 documents delivered to the registry for registration.

Meanwhile, 4,925,332 electronic searches of document image records were conducted.

There were also 188 limited partnership funds newly registered in 2023, bringing the total number to 737 by the end of the year.

The Companies Registry highlighted that it launched the Integrated Companies Registry Information System and a new e-Services Portal on December 27, 2023.

On the same day, it also implemented the Unique Business Identifier, whereby the business registration number assigned by the Inland Revenue Department was adopted as the identification number for all entities under the administration of the Registrar of Companies.

In addition, the registry launched Phase 3 of its new inspection regime to further enhance protection of sensitive personal information.