Company secretary in Hong Kong

Yes. Section 474 of the Companies Ordinance requires every Hong Kong company to have a company secretary at all times. The position can't be left vacant — if the secretary resigns, the company has to appoint a replacement immediately, and the Companies Registry is filed within 15 days of the change.

Only if you're a Hong Kong resident with a usual residential address in Hong Kong, or if the company has multiple directors and you're not the sole director. For a foreign-owned company with an overseas founder as the only director, this isn't a realistic option, which is why a licensed firm acting as secretary is the standard route.

The NAR1 is the annual filing with the Companies Registry that confirms the company's particulars — registered office, directors, secretary, shareholders, share capital. It is due within 42 days of the incorporation anniversary every year. Late filing carries fees that escalate based on how late it is, and the directors can be personally liable for repeated failures.

The SCR is a register every Hong Kong company has had to keep since March 2018, listing the individuals with significant control over the company — usually anyone holding more than 25% of the shares or voting rights. It is kept at the registered office (or another address designated to the Companies Registry), and law-enforcement agencies can inspect it on demand. The secretary maintains it and identifies a designated representative for it.

No. Incorporation is done with the Companies Registry, and the BRC is issued by the Inland Revenue Department under a separate process. Every business in Hong Kong needs a BRC and it has to be displayed at the place of business. It is renewed annually (or every three years, at the company's option), and the renewal carries a government fee plus a levy. We handle the renewal alongside the rest of the secretarial work.

The Companies Registry charges late filing fees that scale with how late the filing is — the NAR1 is a common one, with fees going from HKD 870 if it's filed within a month late to HKD 3,480 if it's more than nine months late. Repeat or serious failures can trigger prosecution of the directors and the company, with fines up to HKD 50,000 plus daily default fines. The fastest way to avoid all of this is to keep the secretary appointed and the calendar live.

Yes. We take over the secretarial role from an existing provider through a straightforward change-of-secretary filing — the outgoing secretary resigns, we are appointed, the Companies Registry is notified within 15 days. We review the statutory registers and the recent filings as part of the handover so we know exactly what state the company is in before we take on the calendar.

Our secretarial service is an annual fixed fee that covers the named secretary, the NAR1 filing, register maintenance, BRC renewal, and routine correspondence with the Companies Registry and the Inland Revenue Department. Larger transactions — share allotments, capital changes, restructuring — are quoted separately when they come up, because they aren't routine.