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(Note that this article is for those who want a company and a bank account)

The longer you stay in Hong Kong, the more incorporation choices you can have. While you can stay in Hong Kong for just one day to have a company and open a bank account, there will be more planning before you come here if you want to do that. The basic issues are that:

1. It takes about 10 days to incorporate a new company and make a company kit, and 2 days to transfer a shelf company
2. Most banks require the account applicants to show up personally at the banks

We have summarized the incorporation options based on staying duration as follow:

One Day:

• Tailor-made company
  • Must mail back signed documents to us
    • We must receive the signed documents two weeks before you come here
  • Must pay us 2 weeks before you come here
  • Must find a witness locally to sign the M&A (Memorandum and Articles of Association)
  • Need to make appointment with the bank in advance
• Pre-formed shelf company
  • Must mail back signed documents to us
    • We must receive the signed documents 3 days before you come here
  • Must pay us 3 days before you come here
  • No need to find a witness
  • Need to make appointment with the bank in advance

Three Days:

• Tailor-made company
  • Must mail back signed documents to us
    • We must receive the signed documents two weeks before you come here
  • Must pay us two weeks before you come here
  • Must find a witness locally to sign the M&A
  • Need to make appointment with the bank in advance
• Pre-formed shelf company
  • No need to mail back documents
  • May pay us in cash in our office
  • No need to find a witness
  • Need to make appointment with the bank in advance
  • On the first day you pay and sign the documents, on the third day you meet with the bank representative.

Two weeks, or you come back two weeks later

• Tailor-made company
  • No need to mail back documents
  • May pay us in our office
  • We will act as the witness
  • We can arrange meeting with the bank representative
• Pre-formed shelf company
  • There is no advantage to buy a shelf company unless you want an old company or you don’t want to create a name for the company.

Contact us if you have more questions.

There are several issues one should consider before incorporating a Hong Kong company and opening a business bank account with it:

1. Do you plan to visit Hong Kong? If not, then you cannot open a bank account here. Most banks, such as the HSBC and the Hang Seng Bank, require clients to personally show up at the bank in order to open a bank account.
2. How long will you stay? If you just stay in Hong Kong for one day, then HSBC will be your only choice. If you plan to stay here for a month, then the Hang Seng Bank will also be available. It is because HSBC is the only bank that will send the e-banking kit.
3. Tailor-made or pre-formed shelf company? For a tailor-made company, you can make up the company name, however, you need:
   1. to use PayPal or T/T to make the payment, since the incorporation process takes about 4 working days to complete. Unless you plan to stay in Hong Kong during the incorporation process (which is not necessary), you should come after the company is incorporated.
   2. a witness, so you need to find a friend or relative who is not a director or shareholder of the company, to sign the Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A).
   3. to mail the signed documents back to us. We will submit the signed documents to the government in one working day after we receive them. And the company will be incorporated in 4 working days after submission. You don’t need to pay us before we receive the documents. More about our self-serve incorporation service

   Planning is easier if you buy a shelf company, but you cannot create the name of the company. Also the M&A booklets will not have your name on it. You can have a pre-formed company and open a bank account in 3 days:

   1. On the first day, you pay us. If you pay us ahead, then you can save a trip to our office.
   2. On the second day, you sign the documents.
   3. On the third day, you meet with the bank representative.

   That is. No witness is needed, and you can also pay us in cash. However we do recommend you to give yourself and us one or two days or margin in case anything goes wrong. Latest shelf companies list

4. Can you provide residential proof? You need to provide us a document (such as a phone bill) that has your name and residential address on it. If the name and address are not in English, you need to type in the name and address exactly as they appear on the document, and email them back to us and we will do translation on them. We will also need your name and address in English for comparison.
5. Will you provide business proof? While the bank will let you sign the account application form, your account will not be activated until you submit business proofs such as contracts, leases, invoices that have the name of the company. The HSBC allows their clients to submit the proof within two weeks after account application. More about business proof

Contact us if you have more questions.

Company rubber stamps and metal seal are needed to operate the company. Their functions are as follow:

The rectangular stamp is used to sign documents and issue cheques. An authorized person (such as a director) should sign his name in the space provided by the stamp.

The circular stamp serves as the signature of the company. It is used to sign invoices. Sometime postal carriers require the stamp for mail delivery.

The metal seal is used to emboss important documents such as contracts and stock certificates.

Contact us if you have more questions.

So you want to have a Hong Kong company and a bank account. But you don’t live in Hong Kong and you don’t plan to visit here often. What should you do?

The answer for you is: buy a pre-formed shelf company, and open the bank account at HSBC.

While it takes at least 4 days for the government to complete the incorporation process, it takes only one day to transfer a company. So on the first day of your visit, you can own a Hong Kong company.

So why should you open a bank account at HSBC? Suppose you don’t live in Hong Kong, the only way you can operate a Hong Kong bank account is over the Net. Most banks in Hong Kong offer ebanking services, but some of them require you to pick up the ebanking keys personally at the bank one week after account opening. So if you open a bank account at those banks, you need to plan to visit Hong Kong twice.

But HSBC is different. They are willing to give you the ebanking key on the first meeting so that you don’t have to come back one week afterward. That makes life much easier for those who don’t come here often. But there is a catch. Since HSBC is very busy, so you should make an appointment with them at least a week early.

Related articles: Latest Shelf Company List, Opening a Bank Account in Hong Kong

You can always go the the Companies Registry’s Cyber Search Centre to check the information of your company. The address of the service is http://www.icris.cr.gov.hk/csci/

Once you enter the site, follow the instruction below to search the company’s detail:

1. Log into the system as Unregistered User
2. Go to “Search” > “Company Name”
3. Type in the company name and search
4. Select your company
5. Near the bottom of the screen, select “Image Record” and click “Go”
6. Select “Proceed to Document Index”
7. Select “Show All” and “Last 3 Years”, then click “Go”
8. The document of interest will be “(E)FD1- Notification of First Secretary and Director (附表格 D3 With Form(s) D3)”
9. Add the record to the shopping cart, pay the fee, then download the record to view.

Note that it takes about one week for the information to appear.

Jinetic Consultants Limited today announced that it will accept bank transfer payment in RMB for its customers in mainland China. The exchange rate of RMB to HKD is 0.95:1. Detailed instruction is available upon request after job submission.

Many people incorporate a Hong Kong company because they want to open a bank account in Hong Kong. Unlike the governments of many other countries, the Hong Kong government does not impose restriction on the import and export of foreign currency. Money can flow freely into and out of Hong Kong. This makes Hong Kong an ideal place for capital to stay before entering into China.

However, the absence of currency restriction also makes Hong Kong potentially a good place for criminal activities. Therefore, in order to prevent their services from being abused, all banks in Hong Kong impose strict requirements on opening a bank account.

So before you come to Hong Kong to open a bank account, you should be aware of the following things:

1. You should bring with you:
   • your personal identification documents, such as passport or identification card;
   • business proof, such as invoices of your existing business, business plan, contracts, or even copies of your business’ web pages;
   • residential address proof of the directors and shareholders, such as utilities bills that have their names and addresses.
2. Certified true copies of various documents, such as the Certificate of Incorporation and Business Registration. Your company kit should come with them.
3. A HKD $5,000 or USD $1,000 cheque for initial deposit.

For more information, please download and read HSBC Business Account Opening Instruction. Note that different banks have different requirements. While HSBC generally does not require a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, some banks do. The safest thing to do is to bring the whole company kit there to avoid any surprises.

Contact us if you have more questions.

Latest pre-formed / shelf company list. If you are interested to purchase a shelf company, please contact us to make a reservation.

Buying a Hong Kong shelf company:

1. Find a company you like from the latest pre-formed / shelf company list. Note that the companies followed by an “R” have already been reserved.
2. Contact us to reserve the company. We will reserve the company for you for 3 days.
3. Make the payment using one of our accepted payment methods.
4. Email us the information about each entity (director / shareholder):
   1. The names, residential addresses, and passport scans of the directors and shareholders;
   2. % of ownership of each shareholder;
   3. Registered office address
5. After we have received the payment, we will prepare documents for you
6. The directors and shareholders must sign the documents.
7. Return the signed documents back to us. Or you can visit our office to sign the documents.
8. After we have received the documents, it usually takes about 3 days to complete the transfer process.

Fees

• Each shelf company, including one-year secretary service: HKD $4,500.00 for those formed between 2009/8/1 to 2011/7/31.
• Registered office service, only forward under 30g governmental mail once a month: HKD $800. Forward all mails under 30g: HKD $1,200.
• Postage fee (to mainland China): HKD $100.00
• Postage fee (to an international address): HKD $780.00