TL;DR
- Every Hong Kong company must have a company secretary from day one. In a private company, a sole director can't also be the secretary.
- The secretary looks after the annual return, BR renewal, statutory registers and corporate filings. The legal duty stays with the company.
- Providers need a TCSP licence from the Companies Registry unless they're an exempt professional such as a solicitor or CPA. Check the number before you sign.
- Quotes we see start at about HK$2,000 a year for a bare named-secretary service. Peblx charges HK$8,800 all-in, with the BR renewal and annual return fees included.
- When filings go late, it's usually because nobody was watching the date.
Who can be one
The secretary can be an individual who ordinarily lives in Hong Kong, or a company with its registered office or a place of business here. For a founder overseas, that usually means a licensed Trust or Company Service Provider. Since 1 March 2018, anyone providing company secretary services as a business has needed a TCSP licence from the Companies Registry, apart from exempt professionals such as banks, solicitors and CPAs, and you can check any licence on the Registry's public register. Ours is TC011104.
What the job is
In practice the secretary keeps the company in good standing with the Companies Registry and the Business Registration Office. The legal duties stay with the company, and if a filing is missed the company, its directors and the secretary can all be prosecuted.
The annual return comes first. A private company delivers Form NAR1 within 42 days after each anniversary of its incorporation, at HK$105 on time and up to HK$3,480 late. A formally dormant company is excused, and for everyone else the secretary normally prepares and files it.
Business Registration renewal is the other fixed date. Most companies hold a one-year certificate, which costs HK$2,350 for 2026/27. The demand note is posted the month before expiry, and if the address on the business registration record is your secretary's office, they handle it.
Then there are the statutory registers: members, directors, company secretaries, charges, and the Significant Controllers Register (SCR). Every company except a listed one must keep an SCR from day one, at the registered office or another notified place in Hong Kong, and produce it to law enforcement on demand. The company must also name a designated representative for the SCR, who has to be a Hong Kong resident shareholder, director or employee, or else an accountant, lawyer or TCSP licensee. For an overseas founder the provider usually takes that role.
Changes make up most of the ad hoc work. A new director, a resignation or a new registered office address has to be filed with the Registry within 15 days, as does a change of name once the special resolution is passed, while a share allotment gets a month. A share transfer needs no Registry form at the time and shows up in the next annual return. A change of business activity goes to the Business Registration Office within a month. The secretary drafts the resolution behind each of these, along with the routine ones for the annual accounts, dividends, opening a bank account or appointing an auditor, and keeps the minute book.
What it is not
The secretary doesn't keep your books or prepare your accounts, and the profits tax return isn't theirs to file either. Those are accounting functions. Plenty of firms offer both, including us, but they're separate jobs with separate fees.
What it costs
The quotes founders show us run from about HK$2,000 a year for a bare named-secretary service to five figures at the larger firms. Peblx charges HK$8,800 a year all-in: company secretary, registered address, mail handling and scanning, the annual return and the BR renewal, with the government fees for those two included. There's nothing else to pay for a normal year. Peblx's All-In package includes unlimited changes, with government fees at cost. Our platform tracks every statutory deadline from the day you join, and if a filing is late because we sat on information you had already given us, we pay the government penalty under our On-Time Filing Guarantee.
The difference between a good one and a cheap one
At the cheap end, the service tends to amount to filing the annual return and sending an invoice. A good secretary tells you in February that your annual return is due in March, and knows your business registration renewal is coming before the demand note arrives. They have the SCR ready when a bank asks for it, and they get a share transfer done the same week where a slow firm takes a month.
When filings go late, it's usually because nobody was watching the date. If your current secretary is slow, switching is simpler than most people think, and we've written a separate guide on how to change your company secretary in Hong Kong.
