Why Foreign Founders Are Choosing Singapore Over Hong Kong as Their Asian Base

Foreign founders who sell globally are settling on Singapore, and the shift shows up in counted things: regional headquarters and family office registrations, both growing faster there than in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's 2 recurring frictions, uncertain banking for non-residents and a compliance stack built around a universal audit, do most of the pushing.

Hong Kong holds its ground with China-facing business, and its own registration numbers set records in 2024. Savvy Platform handles the Singapore side: SavvyStart covers incorporation, the nominee director, the company secretary and bank account support in one package.

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The Numbers Behind the Shift

Bloomberg Intelligence counted the regional headquarters of multinational firms in both cities for 2023: 4,200 in Singapore against 1,336 in Hong Kong. The same February 2024 report found Chinese companies hedging geopolitical risk, Alibaba and Huawei among them, running regional operations out of Singapore too.

The wealth layer moved on the same schedule. Reuters reported in January 2025 that Singapore's single family offices climbed to 2,000 by the end of 2024, from 1,650 a year earlier, citing figures from Chee Hong Tat, deputy chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Singapore's Economic Development Board added in its February 2026 review that companies from China, the US and Europe anchored headquarters with global mandates there through 2025. Small foreign founders are riding the same current as those groups, for the same structural reasons.

Pain Point 1: The Bank Account Hong Kong Might Not Give You

Hong Kong incorporates a company in about an hour, and the account that company needs is a separate, slower negotiation. Statrys, a Hong Kong payments provider, documents the traditional-bank route for foreign-owned companies:

• Compliance reviews take 2 to 4 weeks, and non-resident directors, complex structures and higher-risk industries slow them further
• Most traditional banks require non-resident directors to appear in person, which usually means flying to Hong Kong
• Banks still reject a significant portion of applications from companies with foreign-director ownership
• Documents often need notarisation or certified copies, which adds time and cost for a founder outside the city

A rejected application costs the trip, the certified documents and a month of runway, and the bank owes no explanation.

Singapore's traditional banks also take weeks of due diligence, and Savvy's bank account support is built around the structure they expect to see: a resident director on the register before the application goes in. The review is slow in both cities, and the structural difference is that Singapore gives a foreign founder a way to become the kind of applicant banks approve.

Pain Point 2: A Compliance Stack That Never Gets Lighter

Hong Kong's Companies Ordinance requires audited financial statements from every company, with dormant companies as the only exception, per the Companies Registry's own FAQ. Even companies inside the small-company reporting exemption still appoint an auditor. There's no revenue floor beneath which the obligation switches off.

Singapore exempts a private company from audit when it meets 2 of 3 ACRA criteria over the past 2 financial years: revenue of S$10 million or less, total assets of S$10 million or less, and 50 or fewer employees. Most foreign-founded companies sit under those lines for years.

The second layer is the offshore claim. Hong Kong taxes territorially, so profits sourced outside the city can escape tax, and that 0% position has to be claimed and then defended before the Inland Revenue Department. The Foreign-Sourced Income Exemption regime raised the bar:

• Since 1 January 2023, entities in multinational groups must show economic substance in Hong Kong, adequate employees and operating expenditure, for foreign dividends, interest and disposal gains to stay exempt
• Since 1 January 2024, the regime covers disposal gains on all types of property, beyond the original equity interests
• Pure equity-holding entities must show adequate human resources and premises in Hong Kong

So the founder who came for 0% pays an auditor every year and briefs a tax adviser on substance. Singapore's 17% headline with startup exemptions is a higher rate and a much shorter conversation.

Neutral Ground Between Washington and Beijing

AmCham Hong Kong's 2025 Business Sentiment Survey, run between November 2024 and January 2025 across more than 500 corporations, found 67% of respondents expecting US-China relations to deteriorate and 8% expecting improvement. The same report records members describing Singapore as offering a more stable legal and political environment.

For a founder selling into American and Chinese markets at once, the operating question is where both sides will keep doing business with you. Reuters reported in April 2026 that AI companies from both countries are answering it the same way: OpenAI and Google's DeepMind operate in Singapore, Anthropic is opening an office, and Chinese startups including Manus and MiroMind moved their bases out of China to Singapore.

The scale of the Chinese inbound is measurable at the service-provider level. One corporate services founder told Reuters he had helped about 50 Chinese AI-related firms set up in Singapore since 2024, with employment passes sometimes approved within 3 days.

What the Same Data Says for Hong Kong

Hong Kong's registries tell an inbound story of their own:

• 145,053 local companies were newly registered in 2024, taking the total to a record 1,460,494, per the Companies Registry
• 11,070 companies with parents outside Hong Kong operated there in 2025, up 11% and a record, per Invest Hong Kong and the Census and Statistics Department, with mainland China the largest source at 3,090
• 79% of respondents to AmCham Hong Kong's 2025 survey had no intention of relocating their headquarters out of the city

The composition of that growth matters for a founder reading it. The largest and fastest-growing block of foreign-parent companies is mainland Chinese, which fits Hong Kong's durable role as the corporate doorway into and out of the PRC.

Hong Kong stays the right base when your revenue comes from mainland China or the Greater Bay Area, when you need RMB settlement or mainland investors, or when you already hold a Hong Kong ID and the non-resident banking review never applies to you. A founder in that position gains little from Singapore's audit exemption and would pay for a nominee director instead.

How Savvy Platform Handles the Singapore Landing

For founders whose customer map points at Singapore, Savvy packages the items this pattern turns on:

• Incorporation with ACRA under SavvyStart, covering name checks and filings
• A nominee director through the ACRA-registered CSP structure, priced as a bridge until the founder holds an Employment Pass
• The company secretary and annual filings that keep the company in good standing
• Accounting kept to the standard that proves the 2-of-3 audit exemption at filing
• Bank account support with Singapore's traditional banks and digital providers, built around the resident-director structure banks expect
• The Employment Pass application, so the founder becomes the resident director and the nominee fee ends

Should You Make the Same Move?

The dated record shows Singapore with 3 times Hong Kong's regional headquarters count, a family office register that grew 21% in 2024, and AI firms from both superpowers arriving at once, while Hong Kong posts record registrations driven heavily by mainland-parented companies. Both cities are growing, and they're growing different businesses.

If your customers sit in China's orbit, incorporate in Hong Kong and accept the audit as the price of the doorway. If you sell globally, the banking, the compliance stack and the neutral seat all point the same direction. Send Savvy an enquiry with your market map, and the team will scope the Singapore setup against it.

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FAQ

Why are foreign founders picking Singapore over Hong Kong?

The counted evidence: 4,200 multinational regional headquarters in Singapore against 1,336 in Hong Kong in 2023, per Bloomberg Intelligence. Founders who sell globally cite banking a non-resident can complete, audit exemption for small companies, and a base both American and Chinese counterparties accept.

How hard is it to open a business bank account in Hong Kong as a non-resident?

Statrys puts compliance review at 2 to 4 weeks at traditional banks, with most requiring non-resident directors to appear in person, and reports that a significant portion of foreign-owned applications are rejected. Fintech providers onboard faster, and many founders treat them as the default.

Does every Hong Kong company need an annual audit?

Yes, every company except a dormant one, per the Companies Registry, and small private companies inside the reporting exemption still appoint an auditor. Singapore exempts private companies meeting 2 of 3 criteria: revenue of S$10 million or less, assets of S$10 million or less, 50 or fewer employees.

Is Hong Kong still a 0% jurisdiction for offshore profits?

Only once the Inland Revenue Department accepts the claim. Since 1 January 2023 the FSIE regime requires multinational-group entities to show economic substance in Hong Kong for foreign dividends, interest and disposal gains to stay exempt, and the regime widened to all property disposal gains on 1 January 2024.

Are companies still moving into Hong Kong?

Yes. Hong Kong registered a record 145,053 new local companies in 2024, and 11,070 foreign-parented companies operated there in 2025, up 11% year on year. Mainland China is the largest source of those parents at 3,090, so the inbound growth skews China-facing.

Sources

• Yahoo Finance (Bloomberg): Multinationals Pick Singapore Over Hong Kong for Asian Headquarters
• MarketScreener (Reuters): Singapore's Single Family Offices Climbed to 2,000 Last Year, Minister Says
• AsiaOne (Reuters): Singapore Emerging as Neutral Ground as AI Firms Navigate Sino-US Rivalry
• AmCham Hong Kong: 2025 Business Sentiment Survey
• Hong Kong Government: Companies Registry Releases Statistics for 2024
• Commerce and Economic Development Bureau: Record High Numbers of Companies and Start-ups
• Singapore EDB: Year 2025 in Review
• Statrys: Opening a Business Account in Hong Kong as a Non-Resident
• Inland Revenue Department: Foreign-sourced Income Exemption
• Hong Kong Companies Registry: FAQ on Accounts and Audit under the Companies Ordinance
• ACRA: Audit Exemptions, Small Company Concept