Confidence in Hong Kong builds up with record presence of multinationals, startups

Corporate confidence in Hong Kong as a preferred international hub is picking up with the number of startups and multinationals based in the city both hitting record highs.

The number of companies in Hong Kong with overseas or Chinese mainland parent companies climbed to a historic 9,960 in 2024, while that of start-ups jumped to a record 4,694, both up 10 percent from last year, showed two surveys released by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the number of people employed by the first category of companies reached 493,000 in 2024, and those by start-ups totaled 17,651, up 5 percent and 7 percent year-on-year respectively.

The start-ups spanned across various sectors, including fintech, IT, electronic commerce, data analytics, and education. Notably, the number of start-ups in the health and medical sector as well as the sustainable technology and green technology sector registered significant year-on-year increases of 54 percent and 82 percent respectively.

Insiders believe the data testified to Hong Kong's retained status as an ideal place for Chinese mainland and overseas enterprises to set up or expand their operations.

Cool River Venture HK Limited, a subsidiary of Zhang Yiming, the co-founder of internet giant ByteDance, has been granted a Type 9 asset management license by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong, allowing it to start asset management business in Hong Kong, according to an SFC announcement on Wednesday.

"With our unique advantages under 'one country, two systems,' Hong Kong is the best two-way platform for overseas enterprises to tap into the mainland market and for mainland enterprises to go global, and therefore is their prime destination for investment," said Algernon Yau, secretary for commerce and economic development for the HKSAR government.

Hong Kong was once again ranked by the Fraser Institute as the world's freest economy, and remained the fourth globally in terms of inward foreign direct investment recipient in the World Investment Report 2024, Yau said.

The acclaim above is coupled with various policy initiatives covered by HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee in his 2024 Policy Address, as well as recent policy breakthroughs to draw businesses and talents, including the liberalization measures under the amended Agreement on Trade in Services under the framework of Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, the automatic extension of land leases for 50 years to beyond 2047, as well as visa and travel facilitation measures.

Also on Tuesday, Lee told reporters ahead of his weekly Executive Council meeting that the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises has successfully introduced 66 key enterprise offices, nearly half of which are industry leaders, and 80 percent of them have plans to establish global or regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong's business-friendly environment has maintained its unique advantages and attractiveness, offering enterprises vast opportunities," Yau said.