Hong Kong is a very friendly place between the public and private sectors.
Hello. I'm Mike, a lawyer living in Hong Kong.
Now, after moving our head office functions to Hong Kong and discussing the matter with our Hong Kong lawyers, we decided to obtain a Japanese investment advisory license in order to make investment decisions in Hong Kong. It took about 3 months to complete the process without any problems. To cut a long story short, some time later, I was asked by the Hong Kong Fund Association to attend a regular lunch and give a speech. I was asked to speak at a regular lunch by the Hong Kong Funds Association in response to the tax changes for PE funds. I was told that I was the first PE fund to actually move to Hong Kong following the tax changes for PE funds. There were fund managers, law firm partners, accounting firm partners, and even a director general of the Financial Services Agency, and they were all as friendly as if they were at a university reunion. It's like a university reunion. I heard that the partners of law firms and accounting firms actively lobbied for what was needed to attract PE fund managers, who had been finding it difficult to operate in Hong Kong, and as a result, their request was accepted and the tax system was revised. This shows that the public and private sectors are thinking seriously about what needs to be done to develop the fund business in Hong Kong. I have the impression that they are not adversaries but strong business partners. So everyone was looking forward to my speech because they could hear the results. In my speech, I talked about the strong tension between Japanese regulators and financial institutions, which is like the relationship between a criminal and a suspect, the rigid regulation and taxation system, which makes it impossible to complete business in Japan, and my satisfaction with moving to Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, business operators and the authorities who oversee them are working together towards the same goal of developing business in Hong Kong, and for that alone I am truly envious. I could go on for a long time lamenting the situation in Japan, but please bear with me next time.
See you next time.
