HONG KONG: Qianhai, the special economic zone next to Shenzhen, will allow HSBC and Bank of East Asia to set up two joint venture brokerage firms this year.
Witman Hung, principal liaison officer of the Hong Kong office of the authority managing Qianhai, said HSBC will hold a majority stake in its joint venture brokerage. Normally foreign firms are only permitted to hold minority stakes in joint ventures.
Bank of East Asia will hold a minority stake in its joint venture brokerage.
Hung said Hang Seng Bank will also set up a joint venture fund house in Qianhai this year, which will be the first in the special economic zone.
“Qianhai seeks to develop financial services and this will continue to be our focus this year,” Hung said in a media briefing on Thursday.
He said there were 43,827 companies registered to set up in Qianhai last year, more than double the figure for 2014. In total 67,472 companies will be registered in the zone, representing 3.547 trillion yuan (HK$4.24 trillion) in capital. Among these, 2,439 are Hong Kong companies representing a capital base of 322.7 billion yuan.
More than half the companies registered in Qianhai are financial firms. Information technology ranks No 2 with a 23 per cent share, while logistics companies are third with an 14 per cent share and communications companies make up the fourth spot with a 11 per cent share.
Companies registered in Qianhai which meet certain criteria are assessed preferential tax rates of 15 per cent, compared with the conventional 25 per cent. Qualifying individuals are assessed a 15 per cent rate, compared to the standard 40 per cent.
Hung said the cross border loans between Hong Kong and Qianhai last year reached 33.6 billion yuan, up 10 per cent from 2014.
A recently-opened retail market located within Qianhai received 1.5 million visitors in the three weeks leading up to the Lunary New Year.
“It was popular as this is a new attraction in the area. Many family visited during the weekend,” Hung said.
