Hong Kong saw all-time high figures for the registration of both new local companies and non-local firms in the first half of this year, which government officials attributed largely to the city's favorable business environment.

According to the Companies Registry, 66,734 local companies were newly registered under the Companies Ordinance, with the total number of such firms reaching 1,440,935, as of the end of June.

During the same period, 501 non-Hong Kong companies were established newly for business in the city under the same ordinance. This took the total number of registered non-local firms to 14,959 by the end of June.

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From January to June, the number of charges on properties of companies received for registration was 5,721, while the number of notifications of payments and releases was 8,808. There were also 1,520,759 documents delivered to the registry for registration.

For electronic search services, 2,564,604 searches of document image records were carried out, the Companies Registry said in a statement.

As for the licensing of trust or company service providers, 324 licenses were granted, resulting in 6,974 licensees up to mid-2024.

For limited partnership funds, the number of new registrations in H1 was 113, which took the total number of LPFs by the end of June 2024 to 844.

Meanwhile, the total number of open-ended fund companies reached 371 by the end of June 2024 with the new incorporation of 129 firms.

The two record highs testify to Hong Kong's favorable business environment as well as its ideal location for both domestic and overseas enterprises to develop their business, said the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau of the HKSAR government.

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The figures also prove that Hong Kong's economic environment continues to steadily improve, with sustained development in different sectors. The number of open-ended fund companies and limited partnership funds has also been growing, the bureau said.

To respond to evolving business needs, the new e-Services Portal of the revamped Integrated Companies Registry Information System was launched on Dec 27, 2023, to provide electronic services to members of the public through a single integrated platform.

With Xinhua inputs