SUCCESS Activities

Webinar “How to Build a Sustainable Relationship through Coaching”

(This webinar will be live-streamed on 4 November 2022)

Building a sustainable relationship is one of the keys to success in business.  This webinar will explain how SMEs can make use of the coaching skills of questioning and listening to enhance relationships with customers, and share practical advice on winning the trust of customers, with a view to assisting SMEs in maintaining solid and long-lasting business relationships with customers.  (This webinar will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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Trade and Industry Department / SUCCESS-supported Activities

I. “Minimize Export Credit Risks amid the Gloomy Global Economic Outlook” Webinar

(This webinar will be live-streamed on 10 November 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 latest developments in global economy and introduce the HKECIC's services and supportive measures for Hong Kong exporters.  (This webinar will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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II. InnoPreneur GBA MeetUp

(This activity will be held at HKPC Building on 10 November 2022)

This activity is organised by the HKPC.  SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  This activity will share the tactics for business operation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as introduce a number of Government funding schemes.  (This activity will be conducted in Cantonese.)

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III. Green Environmental & Material Testing Service Seminar

(This seminar will be held at HKPC Building on 16 November 2022)

This seminar is organised by the HKPC. SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  This seminar will introduce the latest regulations on green products, and the relevant testing and consultancy services offered by the HKPC, along with the introduction of “Hong Kong Certification Scheme of Chinese Materia Medica".  Participants will be invited to join a guided tour of Green Hall.  (This seminar will be conducted in Cantonese.)

More Details (in Chinese only)

IV. HKMA/ HKT Global Innovation Award 2022/23

This Award is organised by The Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA).  SUCCESS is one of the supporting organisations.  The Award aims to promote innovation; recognise businesses and organisations for outstanding achievements in innovation; and provide a platform and catalyst for businesses, organizations, professionals and innovators to exchange new ideas and best practices.  The Award is now open for application.  The application deadline is 1 December 2022.

More Details
 

Government further suitably relaxes social distancing measures with effect from 3 November 2022

On the premise of containing the epidemic, the Government intends to allow more extensive daily activities with a higher number of participants so as to resume citizens' livelihood to normalcy in an orderly manner.  It has been decided that social distancing measures will be suitably relaxed further with effect from 3 November 2022:

1. restrictions on the operating and dine-in hours for catering business premises and scheduled premises under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Requirements and Directions) (Business and Premises) Regulation (Cap. 599F) will be lifted;
2. patrons will be allowed not to wear their masks during photo-taking on stage at events held at catering business premises, premises where events are held and other scheduled premises.  However, the mask-wearing requirement is still applicable to other parts of the premises and during time apart from photo-taking; and
3. barbecue sites managed by the Government will be reopened.  Government departments will gradually reopen relevant facilities starting from 3 November 2022.

CEDB briefs Trade and Industry Advisory Board on Policy Address

The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, briefed members of the Trade and Industry Advisory Board on initiatives related to commerce and trade in "The Chief Executive's 2022 Policy Address" at a meeting on 24 October 2022.

He briefed members on the work priorities for attracting enterprises and investment.  These included taking forward the work of the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises and the Advisory Committee on Attracting Strategic Enterprises, as well as expanding the functions of the overseas Economic and Trade Offices by setting up Dedicated Teams for Attracting Businesses and Talents to proactively reach out to target enterprises and talents to attract them to Hong Kong.

Mr Yau also highlighted the support measures for SMEs in the Policy Address.  The cumulative funding ceiling per enterprise under the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund) will be raised from $6 million to $7 million.  Moreover, the cumulative funding ceiling per enterprise under the SME Export Marketing Fund will be raised from $0.8 million to $1 million, while the special measure to expand its funding scope will also be extended to June 2026 to continue to cover exhibitions and online exhibitions targeting the local market, and the eligibility criteria will be relaxed to cover non-SMEs.

On the convention and exhibition industry, the Convention and Exhibition Industry Subsidy Scheme will be extended to end June 2023.  A new $1.4 billion scheme will be launched in July 2023 to subsidise more than 200 recurrent exhibitions to be staged in Hong Kong over three years.

For details, please see the relevant press release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202210/24/P2022102400460.htm and https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202210/24/P2022102400191.htm).
 

Pre-approved Principal Payment Holiday Scheme extended to end-July 2023

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) together with the Banking Sector SME Lending Coordination Mechanism (Mechanism) announced on 20 October 2022 further extending the Pre-approved Principal Payment Holiday Scheme (the Scheme) for another six months to the end of July 2023.  Considering that the Scheme has been in operation for two and a half years, the partial principal repayment option under the Scheme has been enhanced to facilitate financially capable corporates to gradually resume normal repayment.

Eligible corporate customers who participate in the Scheme can have principal repayments on loans falling due between February 2023 and July 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 first drawdown (or trade loans which have been extended for 270 days or more successively since 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.

To facilitate financially capable corporates to gradually transition to normal repayment, the Mechanism has enhanced the partial principal repayment option introduced in May 2022.  A two-year 50% principal repayment option is offered under the Scheme, on top of the existing one-year 20% principal repayment option.  The specific treatments for different types of loans are set out below:

• For instalment loans, such as mortgage loans and commercial vehicle loans, customers may start to repay 20% of the original principal repayment amount for one year, or 50% of the original principal repayment amount for two years.  Customers currently participating in the 20% principal repayment option may, when the one-year period expires, choose to continue to repay 20% of the principal for another one year, or to transition anytime to the 50% principal repayment option for two years.  Referencing past practice, the loan tenor should generally be extended correspondingly.  Banks should apply the same treatment to commercial vehicle loans taken out by personal customers.
• For trade facilities, loans with bullet payment falling due within one year and outstanding balances of revolving facilities, banks may discuss with customers having regard to the actual circumstances and allow them to repay the amount due by regular instalments over a period of two years.

New round of applications under Quality Enhancement Support Scheme of self-financing post-secondary education open until 28 February 2023

The Education Bureau announced on 27 October 2022 that the 2022/23 round of applications under the Quality Enhancement Support Scheme (QESS) of the Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund is open.

The QESS is a major support measure to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary education sector, with the aim of enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in the sector.  It accepts applications under three project categories, namely theme-based projects, open-ended projects, and industrial attachment projects.

All non-profit-making education institutions offering full-time locally accredited self-financing sub-degree or bachelor's degree (including top-up degree) programmes are eligible to apply.  Other related bodies such as the federations of these education institutions and quality assurance agencies may also apply.  All applications will be considered by the Sub-committee on Support Measures established under the Committee on Self-financing Post-secondary Education.

The 2022/23 round of applications invites projects proposed to be launched in the 2023/24 academic year.  The deadline for applications is 28 February 2023.

Further details of the QESS, including the detailed descriptions of various categories of projects and the application procedures, please refer to the Concourse for Self-financing Post-secondary Education (https://ww.cspe.edu.hk/en/qess-project.page) and see the relevant press release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202210/27/P2022102700301.htm).
 

Cultural and Heritage Sites Local Tour Incentive Scheme application period of the first phase open until 30 November 2023

The Government announced on 20 October 2022 the launch of the three-year Cultural and Heritage Sites Local Tour Incentive Scheme, which aims at incentivising the travel trade to develop more tourism products with cultural and heritage tourism elements, thereby echoing the guiding directions of the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.  The Scheme will promote local tourism and prepare for the return of visitors.

The application period of the first phase of the Scheme started on 20 October 2022 and will be open until 30 November 2023.  Eligible travel agents may receive cash incentives in respect of each participant of a cultural and heritage sites local tour they serve.  There are basic and advanced versions of cash incentives.  The application criteria and requirements are as follows:

1. Basic version: Each eligible travel agent may apply for the basic version of cash incentives, which amounts to $200 for each participant of a cultural and heritage sites local tour it serves, and the quota for applying for the cash incentives is 1 000 participants; and
2. Advanced version: Each eligible travel agent may apply for the advanced version of cash incentives, which amounts to $400 for each participant of a cultural and heritage sites local tour it serves, and the quota for applying for the cash incentives is 200 participants.

Government to strengthen regime against cross-border tax avoidance

The Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Taxation on Specified Foreign-sourced Income) Bill 2022 (the Bill) was gazetted on 28 October 2022 and will be introduced into the Legislative Council (LegCo) on 2 November 2022.

Through the Bill, Hong Kong's tax regime will be refined and strengthened to better combat cross-border tax avoidance arising from double non-taxation.  A package of measures will be correspondingly put in place to minimise the tax compliance burden for corporations, mitigate possible double taxation, enhance tax certainty and maintain Hong Kong's tax competitiveness.

The Bill creates a new Foreign-sourced Income Exemption (FSIE) regime that will allow tax exemptions for specified foreign-sourced passive income, namely interest, dividends, disposal gains in relation to shares or equity interests (disposal gains) and intellectual property (IP) income, received in Hong Kong by relevant multinational enterprise entities (MNE entities) provided that certain exemption conditions are met.

The Bill upholds Hong Kong's territorial source principle of taxation to the effect that determination of the source of profits will not be affected by the new regime.  Under the new regime, taxpayers can still be exempted from tax in respect of the specified foreign-sourced passive income received in Hong Kong if they have a substantial economic presence in Hong Kong.

For details, please see the relevant press release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202210/26/P2022102600516.htm).
 

Government welcomes approval of reduced statutory interest rate cap for lending

Through a resolution of the Legislative Council under the Money Lenders Ordinance (Cap. 163) (Ordinance) on 26 October 2022, the statutory interest rate cap for lending will be lowered.

According to the amended Ordinance, the statutory interest rate cap for lending will be lowered from 60% to 48% per annum, and the threshold of extortionate rate (which may trigger reopening of the transaction by the court having regard to the relevant circumstances) will be lowered from 48% to 36% per annum.  The amended Ordinance will take effect from 30 December 2022.

For details, please see the relevant press release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202210/26/P2022102600289.htm).

Commercial Data Interchange officially launched

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced on 24 October 2022 the official launch of Commercial Data Interchange (CDI), one of the key initiatives under its “Fintech 2025” strategy to create a next-generation data infrastructure and form an ecosystem for secure and seamless data exchange in Hong Kong.

As a consent-based financial data infrastructure, CDI aims to enhance data sharing by facilitating financial institutions to retrieve enterprises’ commercial data, in particular the data of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), from both public and private data providers.  With the launch of CDI, financial institutions could embrace more innovative applications to digitalise and streamline a wide range of financial processes, such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC), credit assessment, loan approval and risk management.

During the pilot launch, CDI has registered over HK$1.6 billion in approved SME loans.  The proven usefulness of alternative data has attracted the participation of 23 banks with material SME business and 10 data providers in CDI.  In particular, six key data providers with substantial SME data have joined CDI at its official launch, and will start to provide consented access for banks in the CDI production environment.  In this phase, the commercial data involved will include e-trade declaration, e-commerce, supply chain, payment and credit reference data.

To ensure that all CDI participants follow a common set of rules for proper, fair and secure exchange of commercial data, the HKMA also launched the CDI Framework detailing the governance model and structure on 24 October 2022.

SMEs are encouraged to contact the participating banks to learn more about the new CDI-related financial services offered by the banks.  Going forward, the HKMA will continue to broaden the spectrum of data available via CDI, including data from government departments and analytics service providers, with a view to exploring new business use cases leveraging CDI.

For details, please visit CDI website (https://cdi.hkma.gov.hk/) or relevant press release (https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2022/10/20221024-3/).
 

Cross-Agency Steering Group welcomes launch of HKEX's Core Climate to mobilise finance for the transition to a low carbon economy

The Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group welcomes the launch of Core Climate, the international carbon marketplace set up by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) on 28 October 2022.

Core Climate will provide effective and transparent trading of voluntary carbon credits and instruments across Asia and beyond to connect capital with climate-related products and opportunities.  This is a major milestone following the publication of the Steering Group’s Preliminary Feasibility Assessment of Carbon Market Opportunities for Hong Kong in March 2022, which supports Hong Kong to develop a global, high quality voluntary carbon market, and foster cooperation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Mainland.

The Steering Group will continue to work closely with all stakeholders to take further actions together in developing carbon market for a more sustainable future.

For details, please see the relevant press release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202210/28/P2022102800544.htm).
 

Plastic Shopping Bag Charging Scheme enhancements to be implemented on 31 December 2022

The three pieces of subsidiary legislation for enhancing the Plastic Shopping Bag (PSB) Charging Scheme were passed by the Legislative Council on 19 October 2022.

The three pieces of subsidiary legislation amend the Product Eco-responsibility Ordinance (Cap. 603) and the Product Eco-responsibility (Plastic Shopping Bags) Regulation (Cap. 603A).  The enhancements include:

1. increasing the charging level per PSB from the current level of at least 50 cents to at least $1;
2. removing the present exemption for PSBs carrying frozen/chilled foodstuff items; and
3. tightening the scope of exemption such that free PSBs can only be provided when purchasing foodstuff items without packaging or not wholly contained in any packaging, or food and beverage takeaway items in non-airtight packaging, subject to the basic principle of “one free PSB per single transaction”.  (In case there are multiple exempted foodstuff items in one single transaction, if placing all of them into one free PSB will compromise their quality, or if the size or capacity of the first free PSB is not enough to hold all of them, then one or more additional free PSB(s) could be provided.)

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. 

Upcoming event for November 2022 is as follows:

Date	Theme of Webinar
15 November 2022	Webinar on the BUD Fund More Details (in Chinese only)

You are welcome to join the webinar.

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.