As time passes by, Hong Kong remains as the Hottest Pick among global entrepreneurs for starting up their businesses or using this place as a stepping stone to unlock the opportunities in Asia.  Although it is nothing new that worldwide banks have set higher standards for account opening if compared to years ago, still, more and more companies manage to successfully open their corporate bank accounts by getting solid n’ comprehensive start-up assistance, as long as they have found someone they can trust to solve all their queries out, provide appropriate advice, and take care of  the whole application process with great attention.

In this article, we will take you inside the circle to see how your start-up venture and follow-up arrangement like bank account opening can be aided by the experienced and skillful business consultants in the market.

FASTER >> to Form All-New Limited Company

Whether you would like to set up an all-new company, or purchase a ready-made one as your HK business vehicle, the incorporation timeline is as FAST as 2 working days in here. In previous days, it takes longer (almost 10 days) to finish setting up an all-new company but now with our 2 DAYS EXPRESS services, your company can be up and running in a much shorter time.

What’s more, since most HK banks require clients to make the account opening bookings around 1 month in advance due to their full schedule, our consultants will help you make the bank appointments straightway once your company is being set up (in 2 days as mentioned above) and we have got your business registration no. from the Govt for providing to the bank, so as to speed up the whole process and let you operate with a corporate bank account as soon as possible.

EASIER >> to Set up Your Biz with Only 1 Person

When considering to gain a foothold in Asia, there are always two popular options popping up - HK and Singapore. Yet, HK’s flexibility is probably one of the biggest advantages for foreigners to take and start their business here as the first stop in Asia. As you might know, forming a Singapore company requires foreign entrepreneurs to partner up with a local Singapore citizen, while there is no limit on the nationality of the Director(s) and Shareholder(s) in setting up a HK company.  It means no matter what your nationality, you are free to form your own company in HK without the need to include a HK citizen as your company’s stakeholder, giving you high flexibility in the company structure.

Not to mention it takes only ONE person to form the HK company (meaning the Director and Shareholder can even be the same person), and the mandatory Company Secretary can be provided by us which is already included in our all-in-one HK Company Formation Package. Once you completed all the official registration process, the company can be ready before your visit to HK and meeting up with bankers.

MORE CONVENIENT >> to Open HK Bank Account

Here comes how we make the entire start-up procedures even more convenient. It’s generally recognized that HK topped the global ranking on banking and financial infrastructure for its secured monetary system, well-established legal regime and free currency exchange circulation (especially when compared with mainland cities), and that’s why many savvy entrepreneurs have picked HK as their base in Asia.

We understand the assessment criteria of opening a bank account in here is getting higher under the global trend (while the assessment criteria of worldwide banks is getting more rigorous too to prevent illegal operations like money laundering) and most of the applicants might not always be familiar with what to prepare and how to prepare to match up with ever-changing bank compliance. Hence, an experienced consultant can turn this whole situation around with the intensive know-how and extensive banking network, ultimately uplifting the account opening success rate for clients. For more details, please refer to another blog of us ‘How Your Bank Acc. Opening Success Rate Is Raised by a Skillful Consultant’ here: bit.ly/2vD15Wj.

Currently we work closely with HSBC, OCBC Wing Hang Bank, China Citic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Hang Seng Bank, DBS, Dah Sing Bank and different overseas banks, and we believe you will find your best option among them for operating your business in this place.

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Now you see how a competent consultant could ease your application pain and smoothen your ride in HK. Especially you wouldn’t want to waste time to get rejected over and over again so this is where a consultant can make a total difference.

Following our provided guidance, standing out from a bunch of account opening applicants, getting everything done in only one trip to HK... all these can be your personal experience with the support of BRIDGES consultant team, a group of experienced and reliable battlers in the field who will save your various hassles and time cost so you shall find having your own business in HK is not that difficult.

Still struggling on what to prepare for incorporation or which bank to pick? Shoot us an email at info@bridges.hk or just leave us a private message to get our practical advice and kickstart your HK business journey soon!

I guess many people have heard of ‘Limited by Shares’, that is a Private Limited Company, for which there would be director and shareholder in the structure. But here you may ask: “What is a ‘Limited by Guarantee’? I have never heard of that.” Actually you could be more familiar with the term: Non-Profit Organisation (NPO), which is the more common name of ‘Limited by Guarantee’, having no shareholder in the structure - only director and member instead. Let me give you a better understanding with a clear comparison chart below :
 

Let me clarify the last point “Contribution Type”:

For Limited by Guarantee: Every guarantor has to contribute the same and fixed amount of guarantee if the company is going to be dissolved. Just like when you are joining some sort of clubs and you have to hand in certain amount of membership fees.

For Limited by Shares: Every shareholder has to invest a certain amount of share capital. The capital amount depends on how much he/she is willing to invest or how much the amount of shares the board allows him/her to buy . Share capital has to be invested during the initial formation and it can be increased in time if the board decides to do so.

Popular FAQs of the TWO Entities:-

>> Can We Transform from Limited by Shares to Limited by Guarantee?

This is definitely one of the top 3 questions that my clients always ask me. Sorry the answer is no, you CANNOT switch from one entity to another since they serve 2 completely different purposes. In that case, you will need to set up a new Limited by Guarantee entity.

>> What Should I Do If I Want to Set up a Charity?

You will need to set up a Limited by Guarantee (NPO) first. While setting up the Limited by Guarantee, you will have to provide a proposal on the objective and a 1 year upcoming plan of this Charity, and submit to us for further review. After the Limited by Guarantee has been formed, you can file your tax exemption application, for which we will assist in applying for such tax exemption under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance via the IRD. After the Charity status is approved, you may or may not wish to remove your company suffix ‘Limited’ - if you prefer to take this suffix away, our experienced team can handle such application to the IRD for you by taking care of all paperwork.

>> Do I Have to Prepare Any Annual Filing for Limited by Guarantee?

Yes, you will have to submit Annual Return to update the Government if there are any changes on director and member information, just like any other Limited by Shares. Profit Tax Return would also be needed to file along with the audited financial statement.

>> Please Give Me Some Interesting Examples of Limited by Guarantee & Limited by Shares?

• Limited by Guarantee: Sports Association, Recreational Club, Student Union, etc.
     
• Limited by Shares: Trading Company, IT Consulting Agency, Property Sales Agency, etc.

If you have any further questions on these 2 types of incorporation, please feel free to email me, Alex from the Start-up Advisor Team, at info@bridges.hk to know more of our advice. Or, simply drop me a private message, and I will get back to you shortly as an instant help in your organisation setup plan.

More young generations are starting their own business these days. Different from the past, they do have various channels to know what steps they can take to be a smarter entrepreneur, and how to get things done in the most cost-effective way.

For instance, if you’d like to put more resources into developing your business, it seems some traditional constant expenses like running a physical office or miscellaneous fees for maintaining that office should be cutting down when they are not really facilitating your growth. Instead, you may restructure those resources and put into ‘real’ business, like materials / service provider sourcing or investing in product development, etc.

In this article, we’ll explore some efficient ways for a start-up to maximize its benefits under effective financial controls when running a business in HK.
 

COUNT the Cost

As mentioned above, being a savvy start-up or entrepreneur, minimizing the business costs and maximizing the profits is crucial. So how do you know which cost to cut? Yes, one biggest monthly expense is RENT. HK property rent is known as one of the most expensive (read related news here) around the globe, especially the Central district. Central remains to be the top-level area as Core Business District (CBD) where most business activities take place, for many ambitious companies including those from China try to be stationed in this prime district. Does it mean the chance of getting your firm situated in Central is small? Not really. To achieve this, besides of taking a rather costly traditional office, there are 3 affordable ways for the young business like yours to consider :

> Serviced Office: a fully furnished physical office that allows small team working together with privacy, while the pay-as-you-use office support services like printing, word processing are flexible to use - its monthly rental rate is higher than the other 2 options because of the private unit;

> Co-Working Space: a space / compartment where you can freely come n’ go as you wish, having a desk in the Central environment to work, share and enjoy networking with like-minded people. This kind of co-working solution is very popular nowadays for people to gather and brainstorm new ideas - the fee is medium to high, offering daily access, weekly access and monthly access selections;

> Virtual Office: a virtual address provided by a reliable firm for you to use as your Government’s registered address (e.g. registered as your company’s business address, printed on name card, listed on website, etc.), together with mail handling, call answering and fax forwarding services. This is a very good choice for start-ups with budget concern, given that they can locate their virtual office at a prestigious Central address at minimal cost.  There is a high level of flexibility for the start-ups to work whenever and wherever effortlessly - the monthly fee is the lowest of the 3 options, as low as HK$350/month in here.

In fact, a high expenditure of physical office is not quite necessary at the company’s initial stage (especially when the budget control is critical during the start-up period), that’s why the virtual address solution is widely applied in many industries, but of course, picking a good proper address is important, preferably in a grade-A building to further elevate your corporate image.

GET the Utmost Benefit

For start-ups, there are many flexible choices with different value-added services to help grow your business in the market. How to know which service provider is suitable for you? One thing you may take into consideration is their service experience and profundity. For example at our centre, the proficient team provides a full blend of corporate support services along with our business address plans, including phone & mail handling, incorporation packages, company secretarial services, accounting, tax reporting, visa application (work visa / China visa), payroll as well as meeting room usage and co-working space, where you can get all corporate compliance functions under one umbrella at once, and at a lower cost compared with getting them from several service providers generally. From time to time, we heard from our clients that the reasons they picked us is definitely the knowledgeable staff, fast turnaround time, fair pricing and wide spectrum of corporate assistance served as a business hub for entrepreneurs joining together and receive the support they need right here, from starting up to maintaining and expanding the business.

Many of our virtual office clients are frequent travellers, and so our Central / Admiralty centre environment will serve as a perfect place for them to meet business partners or clients when they come to HK. They could simply reserve a well equipped meeting room for their professional meetups. Also, they could book a co-working space with Day Pass / Weekly Pass / Monthly Pass before their arrival, to ensure they’ll have a decent place to work and settle down. Not to mention when they are abroad, all their incoming calls will be answered in their company name by the fully-trained multilingual receptionists here, so no more lost business opportunities.

In recent years, virtual office seems a wise pick for the start-ups / SMEs to maintain and expand their business at low cost but with the right firm you can easily maximize your benefits and the overall superiority is beyond your imagination. Just some more tips, having a prestigious corporate address with company directory signage in a grade-A building can help facilitate your government application or license acquisition, as well as your working visa application!

Try getting your business address at BRIDGES to taste our professionalism in a whole new way, where all your corporate needs are attentively taken care of. From corporate services like compiling an accounting report to office solutions like working at a flexible co-working space, or using our sea view meeting rooms whenever you’re in HK, please feel free to shoot an email to us at info@bridges.hk for any support. Or, simply drop us a private message to subscribe the yearly virtual office service and get 50% OFF with extra 3 hours FREE co-working space now (limited time till 31 July 2017). Please click here for more details. Don’t miss this special chance to experience the free trial!