特區政府繼續出招在全球搶企業！繼成立「引進重點企業辦公室」招商引資後，下一個大動作是引入公司遷冊制度，吸引非香港企業遷冊來港發展，這將進一步發揮香港作為跨國企業集中地和總部經濟的競爭優勢。財經事務及庫務局局長許正宇昨日發出「英雄帖」，歡迎各界在未來兩個月內就引入公司遷冊制提出建議，協助政府訂立便捷有效機制，增加香港市場的競爭力。
過去數十年間，離岸公司大行其道。很多企業為了規避本地較嚴格的監管制度，或為了避稅，將公司註冊地遷到維京群島、開曼群島等所謂「避稅天堂」。本港大企業設立離岸公司也屢見不鮮。曾幾何時，「××走了」成為一時熱話。時移勢易，隨着近年國際稅制改革，加強金融規管，打擊「洗黑錢」等非法行為，跨國企業在考慮遷冊時更加着重法規和經營效率，「離岸」公司的吸引力因此下跌，大量企業從「遷出去」變成考慮「遷回來」，「上岸」成為新趨勢。
特區政府看到了機遇所在，近年在這方面積極部署。早前發表的新一份財政預算案宣布，香港將引入公司遷冊制度，便利非香港企業遷冊來港。事實上，香港具有開放而高效的企業管治制度、可靠的法治傳統、簡單稅制，以及國際級專業服務。香港地理位置優越，接通內地與國際商貿網絡，亦有利企業管理其內地以至亞洲區的業務。也有業界反映，有現時並非在本港成立的公司，特別是在本港已有一定業務規模或希望利用香港優勢拓展業務的企業，有興趣遷冊來港。機會到了，就應該抓住，許正宇形容香港引入遷冊制度是「正逢其時」，可謂一語中的。
有調查顯示，在香港設立總部或地區總部的跨國企業超過9000家。過去三年疫情期間，地區總部略有減少。隨着香港全面復常，全力拚經濟，特別是內地積極推進高質量發展，在全球經濟風險上升、未來不確定性增加的大背景下，中國重新成為全球經濟的火車頭和穩定器。多國領袖近來爭相訪華，加強合作，拓展商機，有利香港進一步發揮內通外聯的獨特優勢。香港對跨國企業吸引力上升，引入遷冊制度乘熱打鐵，可大大減少企業遷冊的成本，加快非香港企業作出在港註冊的決定。
引入遷冊制度在香港並非新生事物。早在2021年，特區政府率先為開放式基金型公司和有限合夥基金設立簡便的基金遷冊機制，以便利外地基金來港營運。建基於這些正面經驗，特區政府擴大機制的適用範圍，以便遷冊制度覆蓋不同地區、類型和規模的公司，就可以發揮更大效益。公司註冊處將負責審批有關公司的遷冊申請，嚴格把關，確保有關公司符合誠信、償付能力、債權人保障等要求，並在遷冊過程中保護有關企業的財產、權利、義務和法律責任，實現雙贏。
吸引外地人才及企業來港，是特區政府的一大施政重點，在這兩個方面，特區政府都搞得有聲有色，令人欣喜。也要看到，各地都在爭奪這些從「離岸」到「上岸」的公司，香港需要研究分析競爭對手的策略，知己知彼，制訂更全面、更具競爭力的制度和機制。在這方面，特區政府固然要負起主要責任，社會各界也要積極建言獻策，群策群力，為本港的專業服務和資本市場注入新動力。
Introducing a company re-domiciliation regime to inject new driving force into Hong Kong market
The SAR Government goes on with new efforts to compete for enterprises globally! Following estabishing the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises to lure overseas investment, the next major move is to introduce a company re-domiciliation regime to facilitate non-Hong Kong enterprises to re-domicile to Hong Kong for development. This will further bring into play the competitive edge of Hong Kong as a hub for multinational enterprises and a headquarters economy. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu yesterday issued a consultation paper on "Introducing a Company Re-domiciliation Regime" to collect views for two months to help the government work out convenient and effective mechanisms to enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness.
Over the past several decades, using off-shore companies to run businesses had remained a popular way. In order to circumvent Hong Kong's stricter supervision or for tax avoidance, many enterprises had re-domiciled to so-called "tax havens" such as Virgin Islands or Cayman Islands. It was also often seen that a Hong Kong-based large enterprise would set up an offshore company. Once upon a time, the talk of the town was that "xx has re-domiciled". Things have changed. Following global tax reform, enhancement of financial regulation and supervision and crackdown on illegal activities such as "money laundering", multinational enterprises now attach more importance to laws and regulations and operation efficiency when considering to re-domicile. The attraction of offshore companies begins to fade accordingly. A large number of enterprises now consider to "re-domicile back home" rather than to "re-domicile out". "Going ashore" becomes a new trend.
Seeing there are opportunities, the SAR Government has been proactively making arrangements in recent years. The latest Budget announced the introduction of a company re-domiciliation regime to facilitate non-Hong Kong enterprises to re-domicile to Hong Kong. In fact, Hong Kong has an open and efficient system for corporate governance, reliable tradition of the rule of law, a simple tax system, and international-level professional services. Hong Kong's advantageous geological location enables it to connect the commercial and trade networks of the Mainland with that of the outside world, and also is favourable for enterprises here to run their business operations in the Mainland and other places in Asia. Insiders of industries have also revealed that some companies not incorporated in Hong Kong are interested in re-domicile to Hong Kong, especially those which already have sizeable business operations in the SAR or hope to make use of Hong Kong's advantages to expand their businesses. When an opportunity arises, it must be seized. Christopher Hui's comment, that "now is the right moment" for Hong Kong to introduce a company re-domiciliation regime, could be said to have gone right to the heart of the matter.
Some statistics show there are over 9,000 multi-national enterprises which have headquartered or set up their regional headquarters in Hong Kong. During the past three years amid the epidemic, the number of regional headquarters has decreased slightly. As normalcy is fully restored, Hong Kong now spares not effort in boosting economic development. In particular, as the Mainland now is proactively promoting high-quality development, China once again becomes the locomotive and stabiliser of the global economy against the backdrop of increasing global economic risks and uncertainties in future. Leaders of quite a few foreign countries now fall over themselves to visit China in the hope of strengthening cooperation and expand business opportunities. This is favourable for Hong Kong to further bring into play its unique advantage of "linking to the Mainland and connecting to the world". As such Hong Kong's attraction to multi-national enterprises grows. Striking while the iron is hot, now is an opportune moment to introduce a company re-domiciliation regime. It could reduce the cost for an enterprise to re-domicile to Hong Kong and thus facilitate non-Hong Kong enterprises to make their decisions to re-domicile to Hong Kong.
It is nothing new for Hong Kong to introduce a re-domiciliation regime. As early as in the year 2021, the SAR Government took the lead to introduce convenient re-domiciliation mechanisms for open-ended funds and Limited partnership funds to facilitate overseas funds to operate in Hong Kong. Based on positive experiences in this regard the SAR Government now could expand the scope of application for such mechanisms so that the re-domiciliation regime would cover companies from different regions, of different kinds and sizes. Thus the effectiveness of the regime could be maximised. The Companies Registry is empowered to administer and approve cases of application for company re-domiciliation. It will put in place appropriate check to ensure that the companies concerned comply with the requirements for integrity, solvency and creditor protection, etc., and to protect their properties, rights, obligations and legal responsibilities during the process of re-domiciliation, so as to achieve win-win.
Luring overseas talented personnel and enterprises to come to Hong Kong is a focus of the SAR Government's governance. It is glad to see that the government is doing an impressive job along both lines. It must also be noted that many places are competing for such offshore companies to "go ashore". Hong Kong should study and analyse its competitors' strategies, so as, by knowing itself and its competitors, to work out more comprehensive and competitive regime and mechanism. In this regard, while the SAR Government must take the major responsibility, all social sectors should also proactively offer advices and proposals, so that whole society would work and pull together to inject a new driving force into our professional services and capital market.
