The Companies Registry administers and enforces the major part of the CO. The Registry incorporates local companies, registers overseas companies, deregisters defunct solvent private companies, registers documents required to be submitted by registered companies and provides the public with services and facilities to inspect and obtain information held by the registry on various statutory registers, as well as the current data of companies incorporated and registered with the registry. It also administers and enforces several other ordinances including the Trustee Ordinance (insofar as it relates to trust companies), the Registered Trustees Incorporation Ordinance and the Limited Partnerships Ordinance. The registry is also responsible for a wide range of legal, policy and regulatory matters related to the ordinances and corporate governance.

The Companies Registry has operated as a trading fund department since 1993. Consequently, it can keep part of its income and deploy it more flexibly to meet its own needs, business turnover and customers' demands and expectations. The department achieved a surplus of $85.1 million in the 2004-05 financial year. The surplus generated over the past years has enabled the registry to build up a healthy reserve to finance the department's development projects and negated the need to raise fees since December 1997.

The registry has continued to implement the Strategic Change Plan to fully computerise the department's operations and enable electronic delivery of services in filing, processing, storing and obtaining documents or information. Implementation of the plan will lead to a significant reduction in the time taken to process documents, more timely updating and disclosure of company information, enhanced data security and integrity and higher productivity. The two-phase development of an Integrated Companies Registry Information System is an integral part of the plan.

Phase I was launched on February 28, 2005. It involved converting all paper documents received into digitised images to enable data entry and system verification or online scrutiny by registry staff. Customers can conduct searches over the Internet on the current data and over 80 million pages of digitised images of registered company documents. Phase II, which includes the provision of electronic filing and incorporation services, is expected to be implemented in 2008-09.

In 2005, 73 359 new companies were incorporated. The total nominal share capital of new companies registered during the year was $126.82 billion, and 5 870 companies increased their nominal share capital by $189.81 billion. At year-end, 549 232 local companies were on the register, compared with 518 980 in 2004.

Companies incorporated overseas must register certain documents with the registry within one month of establishing a place of business in Hong Kong. During 2005, 620 overseas companies were registered and, by year-end, there were a total of 7 488 registered companies from 82 countries.