New milestone: Registrar of Companies Gordon Jones presents the certificate of incorporation to the Asian Society For Traumatic Stress Studies, the one-millionth company incorporated in Hong Kong.

The one-millionth local company was incorporated in October, the Companies Registry says, thanks to a business-friendly financial services infrastructure with a user-friendly and efficient company registration system.

The number of the local companies incorporated in the first nine months of the year was 55,694, up15.9% on the same period last year. The number of local companies registered was 543,519 at the end of September.

Registrar of Companies Gordon Jones said the first company was incorporated in 1865. Since then, Hong Kong has developed into a major international business and financial centre, and it was only 11 years ago when the 500,000th company was incorporated.

Mr Jones said the Companies Registry provides facilities to allow the promoters of companies, limited partnerships, trust companies and registered trustees to incorporate their enterprises easily and to register all documentation required by the various ordinances governing them.

"To match standards expected of one of the world's major business and financial centres, our performance pledge is to complete the registration of a local company having a share capital in six working days, and I am glad we have fully achieved this standard," he said.