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The Companies Registry Trading Fund made a record surplus of $130.1 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2008, according to the Registryˇ¦s 2007-08 Annual Report tabled at the Legislative Council meeting today (October 22).
Commenting on the Registryˇ¦s performance, the Registrar of Companies and General Manager of the Trading Fund, Ms Ada Chung, said: ˇ§We have met and exceeded the performance pledges for all of our 13 core services. During the year, we shortened the target time span for incorporation of a local company from six to four working days. The registration regime for non-Hong Kong companies was also streamlined.ˇ¨
ˇ§We are fully committed to the continuous enhancement of the standard of our services to meet the needs of our customers,ˇ¨ she added.
In 2007-08, 101,512 new companies were incorporated, an increase of 20.1% from the figure of the previous year. The year also witnessed sizeable increases in the volume of the Registry's other core services. The number of searches on documentsˇ¦ image records, and documents and charges received for registration increased by 9.1%, 13.2%, and 29.4% respectively when compared to the figures for 2006-07.
Since the implementation of Phase I of the Integrated Companies Registry Information System (ICRIS) in February 2005, members of the public may conduct company searches online on the current data of companies and directors and more than 100 million digitised images of registered documents 24 hours a day throughout the year. At present, more than 98% of company searches are conducted over the Internet.
To continuously enhance the standard of its services, the Registry plans to implement the second phase of ICRIS in 2010-11, which will enable electronic incorporation of companies and document registration.
The rewrite of the Companies Ordinance also gained momentum during the year. Three rounds of public consultation were conducted, and preparation is underway on a draft bill which is planned to be published for public consultation around mid-2009.
ˇ§The rewrite of the Companies Ordinance is undertaken to provide Hong Kong with a modernised legal infrastructure attuned to its needs in the 21st century as an international business and financial centre. The rewrite will be carried out in two phases. Phase I covers the core company law provisions which affect the daily operation of over 700,000 live companies. Phase II will cover those parts of the Companies Ordinance relating to winding-up and insolvency provisions,ˇ¨ Ms Chung said.
The 2007-08 Annual Report is the Registry's 15th report since it became a trading fund department in August 1993.
Members of the public can peruse the annual report at the Companies Registry's website: www.cr.gov.hk
Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:30
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