According to SCMP, Hong Kong is the fourth easiest place do business in Asia, behind Thailand, South Korea and Japan, as compliance requirements has made the city less friendly to companies than before, according to a report by TMF Group, a global administrative services firm.

But for mainland businesses looking to enter the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong can still play a role in helping them to reduce compliance complexity and costs, it said.

“Compliance requirements are making it more intricate to do business than before in Hong Kong, similar to other comparable jurisdictions in the region,” said Margaret Fung, TMF’s managing director for Hong Kong. “The relative maturity of the market, the foresight of regulatory policymakers and a substantial ecosystem of service providers underpin our position as one of the region’s and world’s most straightforward places to do business in accounting, tax and regulatory terms.”