The Companies Ordinance (Cap 622) (CO) introduced a company-led court-free process for reduction of share capital in 2014. This followed in the wake of the removal of the requirement for companies to have an authorised capital, which in turn followed a trend globally of removing restrictions in the handling of company capital that has swept up major common law countries such as the UK and Australia.
Although Hong Kong is very business-friendly and constantly ranked among the top countries for its ease of doing business, when it comes to HR and payroll compliance, most foreign owned companies and start-up businesses find employer and employee compliance burdensome. This is often due to the limited resources available in time and funds. Hiring an employee early on solely for the administration of personnel matters for a small team can rarely justify the expense. However, the consequences of an oversight and the resulting potential non-compliance with labour laws and related regulations can be severe. In this short guide, we will highlight the most common issues business owners and directors should keep in mind.
Regulators are taking firm action again non-compliance with AML and CFT regulations as highlighted by these recent enforcement cases in Hong Kong and BVI.
Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, outlined his budget for 2023-24 in his Budget Address on 22 February 2023. Highlights of some measures of particular interest to Hong Kong companies and those with business interests in Asia, are set out below.