(9 March 2004 – Hong Kong) Standard Chartered has been given a banking license to operate in Hong Kong as a locally incorporated unit and is set to change its registration from the UK to Hong Kong.Given the go-ahead by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to act as a locally incorporated unit, Standard Chartered now needs to have a bill passed in Hong Kong’s legislature to integrate its UK operations into the business.
Standard Chartered said the move will put it in a stronger position to service the Hong Kong market, which is its largest market, as well as tapping into China.
It will also benefit from Hong Kong’s lower corporate tax rate of 17.5 percent compared with 30 percent in the UK.