What is UBI, Unique Business Identifier?

Where to find the Unique Business Identifier (“UBI”) of my company?

To implement the new UBI system and to make things simplier, the Companies Registry of Hong Kong is leveraging the existing Business Registration Number (BRN) assigned by the Inland Revenue Department's Business Registration Office. Specifically, the first 8 digits of a company or entity's Business Registration Certificate number will serve as its UBI, allowing for a parallel rollout of the UBI system.

That means for existing Hong Kong company owners, the UBI is essentially the same as the existing BRN which appeared in your Business Registration Certificate. And the CR number on your Certificate of Incorporation will no longer be used after January 2024.

When will UBI be implemented in Hong Kong?

To maintain Hong Kong status as an international financial hub, the Companies Registry of Hong Kong has committed to implementing the Unique Business Identifier (UBI) system in two phases for entities under the administration of the Registrar of Companies:

- Phase One was a small-scale initial implementation, which went into effect on November 1, 2021 for Limited Partnership Funds (LPFs).

- Phase Two will be implemented simultaneously with the launch of the Registry’s revamped Integrated Companies Registry Information System (“Revamped ICRIS”) on 27 December 2023 to cover other types of entities :

   1.companies incorporated or registered under the Companies Ordinance (Chapter 622);  

   2.open-ended fund companies incorporated or registered under Part IVA of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Chapter 571);  

   3.limited partnerships registered under the Limited Partnerships Ordinance (Chapter 37)

   4.registered trustees corporations incorporated under the Registered Trustees Incorporation Ordinance (Chapter 306); 

   5.other entities formed or registered under various Ordinances administered by the Registrar of Companies.

Why implementing UBI?

The Unique Business Identifier (UBI) is a system that has been adopted by many economies around the world. Its purpose is to allow governments and businesses to uniquely identify legal entities across various transactions and regulatory interactions.

This identification code can be used for communication and data exchange between different government departments or between businesses, helping to reduce errors that can arise from using multiple, different identification codes.

Implementing a UBI system can assist governments in improving the quality of public services and enhancing the effective oversight of legal entities. Overall, this globally-adopted UBI provides a standardized, reliable identification mechanism to facilitate various interactions between governments and businesses.