A simpler and quicker commercial registration process for Macau companies looking to invest in Guangdong province was officially announced on Friday at a ceremony held by the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM).
Named the ‘Guangdong-Macau One-Stop Banking and Commercial Registration Service’, the project is a joint initiative between the provincial government of Guangdong and China Guangfa Bank S.A.
The new one-stop system will allow business people in the MSAR to register for a commercial licence electronic card named the ‘Bank-Government Pass’ and open accounts and transfer funds for the covered region in the province, at China Guangfa Bank branches in Macau.
According to Chen Xingfei, Vice-Director of the China Guangfa Bank, the service will solve the problem of companies and individuals in Macau having to travel to Guangdong to resolve complicated and “resource consuming” procedures to start a company and submit their commercial registration.
Extending the system
The system’s experimental phase, initiated at the end of last year, was made available in the Guangdong cities of Zhuhai, Hengqin, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan and Jiangmen, and now includes the MSAR.
As of now, five Macau companies have registered with the new service and the Guangdong Government expects to implement the new service for the whole province within this year, with Hong Kong expected to be included in the second half of this year.
The system will reportedly reduce the commercial registration period from 30 days to seven working days.
“By reducing market access costs, and improving the efficiency and quality of the public service provided, we believe more outside entities will appear in the Guangdong market,” the Vice-Director of the Guangdong Province Commercial and Industrial Administration, Zhang Wenxian, said at the ceremony.
According to Mr. Zhang, as at the end of April of this year, a total of 4,421 companies with investments in Guangdong had capital registered in Macau.
The share capital in Guangdong by MSAR companies reached RMB101.78 billion (MOP118.51 billion/US$14.78 billion), representing 2.5 per cent of the almost RMB3.89 trillion of registered capital from companies outside the province, Mr. Zhang added.
The representative also mentioned that a total of 1,059 startups have been founded in Guangdong by Macau residents, with a total level of investment of RMB75.4 million.
“The new system will improve the investment environment between Macau and Guangdong, while reducing institutional costs for starting businesses for Macau companies, especially for SMEs,” the President of the Macau Chamber of Commerce, Mao Iao Lai, added.
For the IPIM Executive Director, Gloria Ung, the system will promote economic growth in the Greater Bay Area. Ms. Ung stated that in 2016, the total value of imports and exports between Guangdong and the MSAR reached US$2.06 billion (MOP16.51 billion).
“As of February of 2017, a total of 10,207 direct investment projects from Macau to Guangdong were seen, with the cumulative value of contractual direct investment originating from the city reaching US$18.28 billion,” she added.
