Bastille's Story: Deloitte's Assistance for Mainland Enterprises to Go Global from Hong Kong

As a member of the GoGlobal Task Force, which assists Mainland enterprises in entering the global market, Deloitte has shared its experience and insights on companies' cross-border market expansion with Bastille Post. Mr. Edward Au, the Deloitte China Southern Region Managing Partner, expressed at the interview that Hong Kong can be regarded as the best testing ground for Mainland enterprises to go global. Through the window of Hong Kong, Mainland enterprises can gain access to international regulations. Over the years, Deloitte China has witnessed many successful examples of Mainland enterprises entering the global market through Hong Kong.

Mr. Edward Au, the Deloitte China Southern Region Managing Partner (left) and Mr. Allen Wong, the Deloitte China Hong Kong Business Managing Partner (right), Photo by Bastille Post

Mr. Au said that the main pain points for Mainland enterprises to go global are, first of all, their unfamiliarity with overseas regulations, such as which countries and regions can offer preferential policies, the feasibility of the market in different countries, etc. Deloitte can assist Mainland enterprises in being acquainted with relevant information and choosing the appropriate market to start business.

Second, their adaptation to the compliance with overseas regulations, which encompasses both financial and operational aspects. For instance, European ESG regulations, carbon reduction requirements, etc. Moreover, the issue of handling cultural differences is also crucial. For example, every industry in Europe and America has its own union. Knowing the right path of handling such issues has a significant impact on the enterprise's possibility of entering the global market.

He said that after Mainland enterprises successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the funds they have raised can be reserved in Hong Kong, bringing about the convenience of the free flow of funds. In addition, since Hong Kong is a platform for contacting international investors as well as a region that practices common law and shares numerous cultural similarities with the Chinese Mainland, it can be an ideal first stop for Mainland enterprises to go global.

Mr. Edward Au, the Deloitte China Southern Region Managing Partner, Photo by Bastille Post

A Battery Manufacturer Successfully Raised Funds in Hong Kong and Built Factories Overseas

Deloitte has cited several examples of enterprises' success in going global. First is a battery manufacturer that has expanded its market in the Middle East and Africa through Hong Kong. As a secondary listed company in Hong Kong in 2025, the enterprise raised funds to build battery factories in emerging markets. In 2024, the enterprise established an investment fund in Hong Kong to invest in global battery projects, demonstrating Hong Kong's role as an international investment platform. Moreover, the enterprise has also utilized Hong Kong's trade finance services to manage the supply chain capital requirements purchased from Africa, and taken advantage of Hong Kong's legal framework to sign cooperation agreements with enterprises from other countries.

A Fintech Company Expanded Business in 50 Countries from Hong Kong

Second, a fintech company has successfully obtained cross-border fintech licenses in Southeast Asia and the Middle East after establishing a collaboration with supervisory authorities in Hong Kong in 2024. In the future, it aims to further expand the market in Europe and Latin America. Besides, the enterprise has build a collaboration with financial institutions in Hong Kong in payment platform to provide multi-currency payment solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises. Through the platform advantage of Hong Kong, the enterprise has expanded its digital payment to 50 countries. Mr. Au said that Hong Kong's regulatory standards and its advantage of being in line with global market have established credibility for the enterprise.

A Tech Tycoon Built Its Data Center in Hong Kong to Expand Overseas Business

Third, a Mainland tech tycoon that plans to develop global cloud service and artificial intelligence, established a regional data center in Hong Kong in 2024 to focus on the management of cross-border data security. The tycoon has not only leveraged the innovation and technology ecosystem in Hong Kong to support its AI and cloud services in expanding into the markets of European, Middle Eastern and Latin America, but also collaborated with universities and research institutions in Hong Kong to utilize Hong Kong's intellectual property framework to apply for patent protection for their technologies in overseas markets in the aspect of AI technology.

An Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Utilized Hong Kong's Geographical Advantage to Enhance Export Efficiency

An electric vehicle manufacturer has made good use of Hong Kong's geographical advantage to simplify the export process of electric vehicles and related battery products to Southeast Asia and the Belt and Road countries, successfully enhancing the supply efficiency of its international market. In addition, the manufacturer has also utilized Hong Kong's role as an international financial center to obtain international capital.

The "HK LEAP" Strategy Aims to Promote the Transformation of Hong Kong's Economy

Deloitte announced the "Hong Kong Leap" strategy earlier in 2025, investing 500 million HKD to promote Hong Kong's economic transformation and planning to hire 1,000 talents in the coming years. One of the strategy's key focusing points is the development of artificial intelligence to assist enterprises in their AI transformation. Besides, Deloitte believes that inter-disciplinary talents with multiple capabilities would be the wealth that Hong Kong needs in the future. The policies of the government will be conducive to attracting various talents to Hong Kong.

Mr. Allen Wong, the Deloitte China Hong Kong Business Managing Partner, said that 2025 policy address proposed the aim of turning Hong Kong into a "super connector" and a "super value-adder" between the Mainland and the rest of the world as well as building the city into an international financial center and an international innovation center, which would be a development opportunity for Deloitte. Taking this into consideration, Deloitte has planned to invest 500 million HKD in related strategic deployments. As for the strategy plan, the 500 million HKD investment and 1,000 positions will mainly be allocated in three aspects: 1. Artificial intelligence, 2. Financial technology, 3. Capital market.

Mr. Allen Wong, the Deloitte China Hong Kong Business Managing Partner, Photo by Bastille Post

Committed to Assisting Clients in Their AI Transformation

In terms of artificial intelligence, Deloitte would mainly focus on assisting clients in their AI transformation. Mr. Wong stated that many enterprises are aware that AI can enhance efficiency and reduce efforts, but they are unsure how to use it efficiently. As for such a condition, Deloitte will assist clients in their AI transformation, including structural transformation. Currently, one of the obstacles for enterprises to use AI is the structural problem: How can AI and humans cooperate with each other? Nowadays, the application of artificial intelligence is still rather superficial, such as asking some questions to the AI. However, what AI can actually do is far more than that. For instance, AI can be utilized to assist enterprises in earning more money and improving their income statements. He believed that Hong Kong could achieve more fruit in the application of AI. Therefore, Deloitte has established an AI institution to study cases of enterprises using AI and provide feasible solutions to clients. Mr. Wong disclosed that Deloitte has provided artificial intelligence service assistance to dozens of clients up to now.

As for fintech. He said, in the aspects of Stablecoins, RWA (Real-World Assets), etc., Deloitte will formulate fintech strategies for different enterprises and institutions, including applying for licenses and due diligence, conducting independent evaluations. In the eyes of Mr. Wong, fintech would be an important factor for promoting future development.

As for the capital market, Deloitte would focus on the aspect of initial public offering (IPO), which is a field where a large number of talents would be needed, according to Mr. Wong.

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Up to now, Deloitte has accumulated a considerable number of related cases. Mr. Wong said that Deloitte's work in the above three aspects is not starting from scratch, but has a certain foundation instead. What Deloitte aims to conduct in the future is to transform the existing resources into a more systematic layout.

He stated that Deloitte has established partnerships with many institutions all along. Considering the geopolitical challenges Hong Kong is facing nowadays, Deloitte is collaborating with Standard Chartered to study how to rebalance clients' investment portfolios. In terms of family offices, Deloitte is cooperating with Bloomberg to obtain the newest information. As for the cooperation with the government, Deloitte has established a partnership with the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) to assist in attracting foreign enterprises to Hong Kong and bringing in more partners in different fields.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates for decades has advertised itself as a haven for international business in a Middle East awash in violent upheaval. Those waves have now crashed into this nation, testing its economic model like never before.

The UAE, a close ally of the United States and Israel, faced more missile and drone attacks from Iran during the war than any other country. The attacks — and Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz — have more than halved the Emirates' exports of crude oil and natural gas. Its tourism and conference sectors have also suffered.

The country, which sits just across the Persian Gulf from Iran, has portrayed itself as unfazed, even as it makes significant changes. It recently announced plans to build another pipeline to reduce its reliance on the strait, and it dropped out of the OPEC oil cartel so it can boost energy production longer-term, something that had been under consideration since before the war.

While the U.S. and Israel started the war, the UAE is firmly entangled. A drone attack Sunday on its Barakah nuclear power plant underlines the continued risks — even if a shaky ceasefire holds.

Because the Emirates boasts a large surplus of cash, the war’s economic disruptions so far do not appear to have caused major job losses or an exodus of foreign business. The longer the standoff drags on and prevents business as usual in the Emirates, the greater the risk to its image that has been key to drawing international business and investment.

Emirati officials' increasingly accuse Iran of piracy and even terrorism, while threatening to take military action.

The UAE “will not tolerate any threat to its security and sovereignty under any circumstances,” its Foreign Ministry said Sunday night. "It reserves its full, sovereign, legitimate, diplomatic, and military rights to respond to any threats, allegations or hostilities.”

It's hard to know how the UAE will respond to the Barakah attack, which caused no radiological release and hasn't stopped the nuclear plant in Abu Dhabi's far western desert from operating.

The UAE is a federation of seven autocratically ruled sheikhdoms, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Its top ruling body is the Federal Supreme Council, comprised of the hereditary rulers of its seven emirates. But decision-making is dominated by Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his family.

The ruling family, analysts say, has directed a more aggressive foreign policy in the last decades, including entering the war in Yemen against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The UAE helped bring Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to power in 2013, and is alleged to have sent arms to parties in Sudan and Libya's civil wars, which it denies.

Sheikh Mohammed, who rarely speaks publicly, gave his only brief remarks on the war for state media while visiting those wounded by Iranian attacks at a hospital in March.

"The UAE is attractive, the UAE is beautiful, the UAE is a model. But I say to them: do not be misled by the UAE’s appearance," the sheikh warned at the time. “The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh; we are no easy prey.”

But that doesn't mean there has been no pain.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has impeded the UAE's ability to sell crude oil and natural gas, though a few of its tankers have made it out. It can export approximately 1.8 million barrels of crude a day through a pipeline to Fujairah, a city with an oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman outside the strait. The Emirates is trying to speed up the construction of a second pipeline to double that capacity.

The UAE's tourism and conference market — estimated to be more than 12% of its economic output — has also been hit hard.

Since the war started Feb. 28, over 70 scheduled events in the UAE have been postponed, canceled or otherwise affected, according to Northbourne Advisory, a communications firm based in Qatar that's been tracking the effects of the war. The Emirati government did not issue a blanket ban for events, but organizers likely changed their plans over “insurance withdrawal and liability exposure,” the firm said.

On May 4, the country's airline, Emirates, announced it had resumed nearly its entire schedule of flights out of Dubai International Airport, the busiest worldwide for years for international travel. But the same day, Iran launched multiple drone and missile attacks, setting off alerts on mobile phones and groans among the Emirates' business community, which is eager to return to some sense of normalcy.

The airport appears to be building a protective cage around its jet fuel tanks, something officials there declined to discuss.

Hotels, including Dubai's iconic, sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, have closed for renovations as occupancy rates have fallen to around 20%. Moody’s Analytics estimates that rate will fall to 10% in the June quarter, down from 80% before the war.

Moody's warned that occupancy rates will likely stay down through the rest of 2026, with travelers likely to remain hesitant even after hostilities subside.

In an analysis published on Monday, the Institute of International Finance said: “Dubai’s openness makes it vulnerable to shocks in travel, logistics, and confidence, while Abu Dhabi’s balance sheet and energy assets give the federation the capacity to absorb the blow.”

Dubai in particular has been trying to show it is still open.

This past weekend, Dubai hosted an abbreviated version of its annual Art Dubai show. The war felt close by, not only because the show's preview happened the same day Iran seized a ship anchored off Fujairah.

One piece of art was a coin-operated black fighter jet, covered in pairs of black Nike tennis shoes.

One artist, Solimán López of Spain, came with a piece centered on the idea of him claiming ownership of a metal-rich asteroid that's the target of a NASA mission. The artwork is meant to reflect on how countries and companies extract oil and other commodities.

The conflict made it a challenge to attend with his work, he said. "But I said I have to do my best, because I do believe that it’s the perfect context to talk about this in the region," he said.

Another artist, Alfred Tarazi of Beirut, noted his grandparents lived through two world wars.

“Life doesn't stop in a world war,” he said. “We can only counter a narrative of violence with culture.”

FILE - A vendor sits inside a shop at the empty Al Seef market, one of the main tourist areas of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 13, 2026, as tourism slows during the Iran war. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - Smoke rises after an Iranian drone attack in the port area of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

FILE - The skyline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026, with the Burj Khalifa at center. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)