Is Switzerland the new Hong Kong for corporate businesses and bank account registration?

Over the last decade, corporate and business law in Hong Kong has come down hard on international businesses looking to set up a bank in the once-favoured country. It's business-friendly taxation and effortless bank account registration made it one of Asia's hubs for international investment. Though, the last couple of years have seen the city majorly swing against businesses, leading to another country being a global favourite. Now investors are favouring a Swiss bank account for their company.

Companies in Hong Kong are now being slugged with higher taxes, more stringent bank set up processes and a handful of other intricate and complex bank issues leading to CEO's and financial teams choosing a Swiss bank account for their company rather than one based in Hong Kong.

Switzerland is now leading the pack when it comes to global businesses and entrepreneurs who need a safe, stable and low tax environment for their companies. This has pushed countless e-commerce firms and personal wealth managers to choose Switzerland as 'home base' for financial operations.

There are still, however, a few key drawbacks of opening a Swiss bank account over opening one in Hong Kong, with those differences being:

A higher setup fee

Higher maintenance costs

Income taxes for corporate businesses from 8% to 12%

A VAT at 8% for business within Switzerland

The leading reason that companies and investors were looking towards Asia and Hong Kong weren't simply for their low taxes, but their financial systems. The systems were business friendly and made registering a company bank account entirely effortless. On a global scale, a bank account in Hong Kong was previously the easiest to set up and had some of the highest safety available. Now, that's changed.

In 2017, the city changed its tune on business and investment banking, leading many businesses to have to contact and register with multiple banks with the goal of at least one of these banks accepting the company's request. On top of the setup difficulty, countless businesses have even had their bank accounts frozen, resulting in absolute chaos for global operations.

As a response to this, countless investors, CEOs, and CFOs are migrating from Hong Kong to Switzerland and opening a Swiss bank account for the company they represent. This is thanks to Switzerland's relentless focus on security and ease of set up for business bank accounts.

Down to Hong Kong's majorly failing of their business banking partners, we now recommend that our clients switch over to Swiss bank accounts for their companies as the entire process are far less volatile.

Thanks to Switzerland being relentlessly stable in comparison to the rest of the world, there is far less risk associated with a bank changing their service terms and their outlook on businesses.

If you're an investor or CFO looking to launch a Swiss bank account for the company, then at Goldblum and Partners can greatly assist in doing that. You can generally expect the entire process for brand new company launches to the set up of a Swiss bank account to last around 5 or 6 weeks, including initial launch phases.

You can find more information on our Swiss bank setup services on our website.