SUCCESS Activities

Webinar "Doing Business in Thailand - Latest Developments and Things You Need to Know"

(This webinar will be live-streamed on 28 September 2022) 

Located at the heart of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Thailand is regarded as one of the important markets in Southeast Asia.  This seminar will give an overview on the latest development of Thailand market, including economic forecast, investment opportunities in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and points to note for Hong Kong companies doing businesses in Thailand.  An enterprise representative will also be invited to share experience of doing businesses in Thailand, including challenges encountered and practical tips, with a view to assisting Hong Kong enterprises expand their businesses in the Thailand market.  (This webinar will be conducted in Cantonese and English.)

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Trade and Industry Department / SUCCESS-supported Activities

I. "CEO Online – New Era of 5G, New Opportunities for Startups" Seminar

(This seminar will be live-streamed and held at Genesis in hybrid mode on 23 September 2022)

This seminar is organised by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups.  SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  In this seminar, the speaker will share with the participants changes to the mode of business operation brought by 5G technology, as well as relevant new business opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and international markets.  (This seminar will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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II. "How Refinements to Foreign Source Income Exemption (FSIE) Regime for Passive Income Impacts Corporations in Hong Kong" Seminar

(This seminar will be live-streamed and held at CMA Buiding in hybrid mode on 28 September 2022)

This seminar is organised by The Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong.  SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  In this seminar, tax experts will explain the Government's proposal of refining Hong Kong's FSIE regime, the latest tax situation under the refined FSIE regime and the impacts of such refinements on enterprises, with a view to assisting Hong Kong entrepreneurs to understand the relevant measures and requirements and prepare in advance.  (This seminar will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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III. InnoPreneur MeetUp "The Chinese Medicine Industry Power-up" Seminar

(This seminar will be held at HKPC Building on 28 September 2022)

This seminar is organised by the Hong Kong Productivity Council and co-organised by the Hong Kong Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners Association.  SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  This seminar will explore the trend and opportunities for Chinese medicine development in Hong Kong and analyse how manufacturers of proprietary Chinese medicines can use technological solutions to improve productivity, as well as upgrade and transform their management and business processes.  This seminar will also introduce relevant government funding schemes.  (This seminar will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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IV. "Safeguard and expand your export business in post-pandemic era" Webinar

(This webinar will be live-streamed on 29 September 2022)

This webinar is organised by the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation (HKECIC).  SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  This webinar will give an overview on the global trade prospects and export risk outlook at the fourth quarter of 2022, as well as introduce the HKECIC's export credit insurance services and supportive measures for Hong Kong exporters.  (This webinar will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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V. "FinTech Series: Decentralized Finance (DeFi) — Blockchain Banking"

(This course will be held at Hong Kong Productivity Council on 22, 24, and 29 November and 1 December 2022)

This course is offered by the Hong Kong Productivity Council.  SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  This course will introduce the blockchain technology and explain DeFi applications.  (Admission fee is required.  This course will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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Meeting the "BRANDers" – The BUD Fund - Interview with Athena Tableware HK Limited

To encourage and assist Hong Kong enterprises in developing their own brands and promoting their brands in the Mainland and overseas markets, the TID conducts interviews with representatives of local brands and experts so as to share their success stories and business strategies with the industries.  The TID has earlier on interviewed Mr Raymond Tam, Director of ATHENA, to understand more about the company’s marketing strategy, and how ATHENA has made use of the BUD Fund to enter the Mainland and the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) markets.

More Details (in Chinese only)
 

Government standardised requirements of Provisional Vaccine Pass

Considering that COVID-19 vaccine has been widely administered in places outside Hong Kong and the local Vaccine Pass requirements will be further strengthened (lowering the applicable age starting from 30 September 2022, and requiring all persons aged 12 or above to be vaccinated with three doses starting from the end of November 2022), the Government standardised requirements of the Provisional Vaccine Pass applicable to all inbound travellers, requiring them to have received at least two doses with effect from 17 September 2022. 

For details, please see the relevant press release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202209/16/P2022091600674.htm).
 

Pre-approved Principal Payment Holiday Scheme extended for another three months to end-January 2023

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), together with the Banking Sector SME Lending Coordination Mechanism (the Mechanism), announced on 16 September 2022 that the Pre-approved Principal Payment Holiday Scheme (the Scheme) will be extended for another three months to the end of January 2023, to allow time to review the Scheme and further study the way forward.  Further announcement will be made at a suitable juncture.

Corporate customers who want to participate in principal repayment holiday can have principal repayments on loans falling due between November 2022 and January 2023 deferred by six months except for repayments of trade loans, which will be deferred by 90 days.  For trade facilities which are self-liquidating in nature, banks may require the loan to be settled when the customer has received the underlying payment.  Corporate customers in need of principal repayment deferment may contact their banks.  Requests will be handled on a "pre-approved" basis.  For loans which have been extended for 540 days or more successively since the first drawdown (or trade loans which have been extended for 270 days or more successively since the first drawdown), banks have the flexibility to offer different forms of suitable credit relief to help the customers ride out the current difficulties, subject to prudent risk management principles.  Other operational details of the Scheme remain unchanged.  For details, please refer to the press release published by the HKMA on 23 February 2022.

The principal moratorium arrangement under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme (SFGS) will be extended accordingly.  Borrowers may apply for principal moratorium of up to 36 months.  The option to resume making partial principal repayment will continue to be provided, allowing borrowers to resume normal repayment gradually if they are willing and capable.  Whether a borrower chooses the principal moratorium arrangement or the partial principal repayment option, the loan tenor and the guarantee period will generally be extended accordingly.  Borrowers wishing to apply may approach lending institutions to discuss the arrangement.

For enquiries about the Pre-approved Principal Payment Holiday Scheme, please contact the HKMA via the dedicated email account (ppphs@hkma.gov.hk) or enquiry hotline (2878 1199).  For enquiries about the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme, please call the SFGS Hotline at 2536 0392.  For relevant press release, please visit https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2022/09/20220916-6/ and https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202209/16/P2022091600542.htm.
 

Government rental concessions further extended to 31 December 2022

As COVID-19 continues to affect economic activities, the Government announced on 16 September 2022 that it will further extend the rental or fee concessions applicable to government properties and short-term tenancies and waivers for another three months until 31 December 2022 to ease the operating pressure of businesses.  In the meantime, the Government will keep the measures under review and further examine the subsequent arrangements.  Announcement will be made in due course.

For details, please see the relevant press release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202209/16/P2022091600394.htm).

Support Measures relating to Liquidity

Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund)

The TID has rolled out an enhancement to the BUD Fund on 27 June 2022.

To further support enterprises in making use of the better protection afforded by Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAs) to develop more diversified markets, the geographical scope of the BUD Fund has been extended with an addition of two economies with which Hong Kong has signed IPPAs, namely Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The geographical scope of the BUD Fund has been extended, in three phases since July 2021, from 20 economies with which Hong Kong has signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to cover 37 economies1 with which Hong Kong has signed FTAs and/or IPPAs.

The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) as the BUD Fund implementation partner regularly organises seminars/webinars in order to enhance enterprises’ understanding of the BUD Fund.  For more details of the BUD Fund, please visit its website (https://www.bud.hkpc.org/en) or contact the HKPC at 2788 6088. 

1Besides the two newly added economies of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, the other 35 economies covered under the BUD Fund are the Mainland, New Zealand, the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (i.e. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), Chile, Macao, the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (comprising Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), Georgia, Australia, Japan, Korea, Austria, Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.