Getting Set Up
6 pages
Incorporate a Hong Kong company
Setting up a Hong Kong company is fast and simple: at least 1 director + 1 company secretary + 1 local registered address; online submission usually issues the certificate in 1–7 days, with the Business Registration Certificate obtained at the same time (about HK$2,200/year, adjusted by the government from time to time). The hard part isn't the registration — it's what comes after: opening a bank account, the shareholding structure, and the annual audit and tax filing all need to be thought through in advance.
Open a corporate bank account
Opening a corporate account is the biggest early bottleneck to landing in Hong Kong: it commonly takes 2 weeks to 3 months, and rejections are not rare. The crux is passing the bank's KYC / anti-money-laundering checks — the bank needs to see a real business, real transactions, and a clear source of funds. The earlier you prepare, the better; if traditional banks are difficult, consider a virtual (digital) bank, or call the HKMA account-opening support hotline (2878-1133) for help.
Turn banks into your customers
With 174 banks in Hong Kong and 70+ of the world's top 100 present, it's an extremely dense pool of institutional buyers. There are several clear doors to selling to banks: Open API, the Commercial Data Interchange (CDI), the regulatory sandbox, GFT, bank accelerators, and vendor procurement. But a POC is not a contract, cycles run six months to a year and a half, and procurement compliance is a real barrier.
Break into financial institutions via the regulatory sandbox
Hong Kong's three financial regulators (the HKMA, the SFC, and the IA) each run a regulatory sandbox, linked through a single point of entry: they let you pilot a fintech solution in a controlled environment with real data and a regulatory endorsement. But the key thing to recognize is that a sandbox is a testing regime, not a customer — it gives you data + an endorsement + a way in, not orders.
Shenzhen company vs Hong Kong company: how to choose, how to run both
If you only do mainland business and need to issue invoices and hire mainland staff, a Shenzhen company is enough; you only need a Hong Kong company to receive foreign currency, settle cross-border, go global, or raise capital and list. Run both and it's a Hong Kong holding company plus Shenzhen operations. Qianhai and Hetao offer the double 15% and the Hong Kong-tax cap, but with hard thresholds — registering in Qianhai ≠ automatically getting them.
Qianhai vs Hetao: how to use the two Shenzhen–Hong Kong low-tax sweet spots
Qianhai and Hetao are two low-tax parks where Shenzhen and Hong Kong overlap; both offer 15% corporate income tax and the Hong Kong-tax cap, but their focus differs: Qianhai leans toward modern services + Shenzhen–Hong Kong youth entrepreneurship (Dream Factory), Hetao toward Shenzhen–Hong Kong tech and innovation. The shared hard thresholds: the breaks require being in a designated zone + on the encouraged list + substantive operations — a nominal registered address won't get them. The policies also have expiry dates, so check whether they've been extended before you act.