Although Hong Kong does not have any definite legislation that governs offshore company formation, it is one of the most attractive jurisdictions for establishing an offshore company owing to its low tax regime, the absenteeism of foreign exchange restrictions, political and economic security, the comfort of offshore company setup, etc. Setting up an offshore company in Hong Kong is the ideal vehicle for carrying offshore banking activities, international trade, investment activities, and for asset protection.
Overview
Hong Kong is one of the world’s energetic cities, together with London, New York, and Tokyo is recognized to be one of the biggest appreciated business centers in the world. Hong Kong’s geographic location as a gateway between the East and West has given it a charming center for international trade.
Hong Kong is not commonly viewed as an offshore country as it is recognized for being a significant financial center, though, it is one of the few nations in the world that tax on a regional basis.
Under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO), Type 9 “asset management”, suggests providing a service of maintaining a portfolio of protection or futures contracts for customers on a discretionary basis. This class of organized activity will cover discretionary investment managers, whether managing a hedge fund, report or related fund.
It is important to note that the Type 9 license not only incorporates portfolio management actions but further authorizes the incidental marketing of funds which are maintained by the authorized organization as well as incidental investigation and securities analysis. Consequently, such related exercise provides a Type 9 licensed organization to carry out activities without the requirement to obtain Type 1 and Type 4 licenses, respectively.
The people who carry on regulated functions on part of a licensed corporation are expected to be licensed representative accredited to the licensed corporation (LRs). For the goal of receiving a license, an Applicant Company will require to designate at least two such people as responsible officers (ROs). ROs are LRs who actively engage in or directly conduct the organized activity to be conducted by the application corporation. At least one RO must be an administrative director of the corporate entity that actively engages in or is liable for directly supervising the conduct of Type 9 regulated activity for which they are authorized. Every administrative administrator who is an individual must be approved by the SFC as an RO.
There must in all events be at least one RO citizen in Hong Kong ready at all times to supervise the company. The same person may be elected to be a qualified officer for more than one organized activity presented that he is fit and proper to be so selected and there is no dispute in the roles assumed. At least one of your suggested responsible officers must be an administrative director.