PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has emerged as the most favourable location for businesses worldwide, surpassing other countries in terms of both cost-effectiveness and fast corporate processes by local authorities, reported Mercator Entity Management Report 2023.
The report cited Malaysia’s electronic filing options, minimal documentation requirements, and swift registration processes as key factors contributing to its top position.
It highlighted that it is common practice to approve corporate decisions by written resolutions instead of requiring an actual meeting.
Additionally, there are no nationality requirements for directors, the incorporation process is quick and not complex, and there are not a lot of annual reporting requirements, thus less chance a pending filing will cause issues or delays with corporate changes.
Physical presence at local authorities by the attendee is not required, signing in counterpart or e-signatures are acceptable, and notarisations or legalisations are not required as well.
Following Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, Portugal, and the United Kingdom secured the subsequent positions in the global business-friendly environment for 2023.
Kariem Abdellatif, head of Mercator by Citco, Citco C&T Holdings, said, “Overall, we continue to see the digitalisation drive revolutionising the way in which multinationals manage and maintain their global portfolio of entities and 2023 has seen more jurisdictions across the world embrace digital tools to streamline processes and increase efficiency.”
Asia-Pacific (Apac) emerged as a region of contrasts, with both the cheapest and most expensive jurisdictions. While Apac benefits from pre-pandemic adoption of digital processes, certain jurisdictions like South Korea, China, and Taiwan present higher costs. Malaysia stands out as a cost-effective business hub in this diverse landscape.
Overall, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Jersey are the most inexpensive countries for multinationals. In all three jurisdictions, notarisations or legalisations are not required meaning documents do not require translation and no extra costs are incurred. In addition signing in counterpart or via e-signatures are acceptable, online filing options are widely available and the physical presence of the attendee is not required to enact changes. All these factors significantly reduce the cost to complete tasks.
Furthermore, it said multinationals operating in places such as Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea are faced with a commensurate number of rules and conventions to follow.
In contrast, Apac’s financial hubs – such as Singapore, Australia and Malaysia – are business-orientated with simplified and digitalised processes. The pace at which multinationals can manage entities in these jurisdictions significantly boost the region’s overall average time to complete tasks.
It said multinationals should expect to complete the most tasks in the Philippines, Malaysia and India. All three have a considerably higher average number of tasks per entity, compared to the global average of 3.85 tasks per entity.
