Chen Maobo: Propose to relax the stamp duty exemption criteria for intra-group asset transfers.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan in the "2026 Budget" mentioned that in order to optimize the business environment and facilitate internal restructuring of companies, he proposed to relax the stamp duty exemption criteria for the transfer of assets within a group, in order to expand the scope of eligible associated corporations. The Hong Kong government will submit a bill for the amendment of regulations within the year, and the proposed suggestions will apply to contracts signed from today onwards. Regarding enhancing Hong Kong's role as a major base for corporate finance, Paul Chan indicated that a series of optimization measures will be announced in the middle of the year, including providing additional tax incentives and flexibility for corporate finance centers and their affiliated companies, as well as establishing a pre-approval mechanism. Additionally, with the implementation of the Company Migration Regime last year, Paul Chan mentioned that the Companies Registry has approved 22 cases so far and is currently processing around 20 applications. The government will enhance external publicity to attract more companies to establish themselves in Hong Kong.