CE: Hong Kong's feats in attracting businesses in 2025 is unprecedented

Chief Executive John Lee said the number of companies in the city with parent companies located outside Hong Kong reached a record high.

Lee's comment came at the opening of the Asian Financial Forum at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The 19th Asian Financial Forum gathered more than 3,600 international representatives from sectors ranging from business leaders to academics.

Chief Executive John Lee and Zhou Ji, Director of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong were among the guests of the two-day event.

In his speech, the CE said Hong Kong had achieved "unprecedented" results in attracting enterprises last year.

"The number of foreign- and Mainland-affiliated companies was 11,070 in 2025, which is up 11 percent from the year before," said Lee. "That's a record high number of firms with their parent companies located outside Hong Kong.

"We've seen a robust growth of companies coming from a wide range of places. From Singapore, France, Australia, the United States and Switzerland have all risen by over 11 percent."

"Companies from countries in ASEAN and the Middle East have grown respectively by some 10 percent and five percent."

Meanwhile, Invest Hong Kong released its annual report of 2025. A total of 560 overseas and mainland companies established in the city last year -- a four percent rise compared to 2024.

Most of the companies came from these top sources: Chinese mainland, U.S., Singapore, U.K., Canada and Japan.

The companies can be categorised in five main sectors: Financial services and fintech, I&T, family offices, tourism and hospitality and consumer products.

Foreign direct investment brought to the city by the new companies amounted to nearly 69.4 billion dollars. These companies are also expected to create 10,748 job opportunities.

The government said it expects to welcome at least 220 more family offices to set up or establish operations in Hong Kong by 2028.