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Hong Kong continues to be the top choice location for overseas and Mainland companies to manage their regional businesses, Director-General of Investment Promotion Mike Rowse says.
Announcing the results of an annual survey today Mr Rowse said the city is host to 6,612 overseas and Mainland firms representing parent companies outside Hong Kong, up 2.7% on last year.
He said the figure is an all-time high with 3,882 of these companies serving as regional headquarters or offices. This is a strong vote of confidence in Hong Kong's role as Asia's leading business hub, he added.
"In recent years two emerging trends have further strengthened Hong Kong's status as a regional and even international hub: more multinationals have upgraded their Hong Kong operation by adding regional and even global responsibilities, while more and more Mainland companies have established local offices here to capture the business opportunities Hong Kong has to offer."
US, Mainland list toppers
As at June 2 there were 1,298 regional headquarters, 2,584 regional offices and 2,730 local offices in Hong Kong.
The US tops the list of places with regional headquarters in Hong Kong (311), followed by Japan (238) and the UK (119).
The major lines of business of regional headquarters are wholesale, retail and import-export trades; business services (excluding information technology); and transport and related services. They employ 142,000 people in Hong Kong.
The US also tops the list of places with regional offices in Hong Kong (612), followed by Japan (494) and the UK (234).
The major lines of business of regional offices are wholesale, retail and import-export trades; business services (excluding information technology); and finance and banking. They employ 97,000 staff in Hong Kong.
The Mainland topped the list of places with local offices in Hong Kong (499), followed by the US (452) and Japan (440). The major lines of business of local offices are wholesale, retail and import-export trades; finance and banking; and business services (excluding information technology). They employ 131,000 people in Hong Kong.
Favourable environment
Key favourable factors affecting the choice of Hong Kong as a location for regional headquarters, regional and local offices for foreign or Mainland companies include a simple tax system and low tax rate; free flow of information; absence of exchange controls; corruption�free government; communication, transport and other infrastructure; free port status; political stability and security; geographical location; rule of law and independent judiciary; and, availability of business and professional support services.
Comparing June with the same month last year 70% of regional headquarters, and regional and local offices believe the overall business environment in Hong Kong has remained the same or improved.
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