Growing in Singapore was getting expensive
- Singapore's mandatory nominee director requirement added around SGD 2,500 a year in extra costs
- Legal professionals were handling compliance, which proved complex and costly compared to a dedicated company secretary
- Paying staff in Thailand, the US, and France through SWIFT costs around USD 30 per transfer, plus unnecessary FX fees from paying in the wrong currencies
A relocation to Hong Kong, handled end-to-end
- Statrys handled company creation in Hong Kong, incorporated within two weeks and fully digital
- A multi-currency business account covering 11 currencies, including HKD, USD, EUR, and GBP
- Local payments and less reliance on multiple banking relationships, cutting down on fees and delays
From Singapore to Hong Kong, Building a Business Across Borders
WeCall was founded in 2018 by Lance Girard and his associate, who were both living in Thailand at the time and looking for a place to register the company. Opening a company as a foreigner in Thailand proved close to impossible, so they looked elsewhere and landed in Singapore, drawn in by its standing as a major financial centre.
WeCall built the business to run remotely from day one, with revenue arriving from France and staff paid across Thailand, the US, and France. But after roughly three years in Singapore, the cost of running the business that way started to catch up with them.
The Cost of Staying in Singapore
Operating in Singapore came with a specific set of costs that made international growth harder to justify. Singapore requires all companies to appoint at least one local resident director, adding around SGD 2,500 a year to WeCall's overheads.
To manage compliance, WeCall initially relied on outside legal professionals, a solution that proved more complex and costly than working with a dedicated company secretary.
Paying an international team added a further layer of cost. With staff based in Thailand, the US, and France, WeCall relied on SWIFT transfers costing around USD 30 per transaction, adding up to roughly SGD 180 a month, with unnecessary FX fees stacked on top because employees weren't always paid in their own local currency.
"So we went [to Singapore] for like three years and then realised we were paying an extremely high price for the service we were getting."
Singapore's tax regime, while business-friendly, wasn't built for an SME with growing cross-border operations. WeCall needed an approach that combined cost savings with a framework for entering new markets efficiently.
So they cast their sight on Hong Kong.
Moving to Hong Kong, End-to-End
WeCall turned to Statrys for guidance on realigning its operations, and for practical help getting there.
With expertise across corporate services and compliance, Statrys built a plan to relocate the business to a jurisdiction that matched WeCall's growth goals and cost-saving priorities.
Statrys started the company creation process in Hong Kong, drawing on its knowledge of local regulations and compliance requirements, and set up WeCall with a multi-currency business account covering 11 currencies, including HKD, USD, EUR, and GBP, cutting WeCall's reliance on multiple banking relationships to move money internationally.
"We need to be able to pay in different currencies and perform multi-currency transfers, and even on those transfers, we get cheaper rates than we did with Singapore."
Fast Company Setup, No Disruption to Operations
The transition itself was efficient and straightforward.
WeCall's Hong Kong company was incorporated within two weeks, with all procedures handled digitally, and Statrys set up the business account to receive and send payments in multiple currencies, simplifying payments and improving cash flow management along the way.
"Through Hong Kong, we basically gave the main documents to Statrys, who took care of everything after that. And it was done in a week."
For a business that had run remotely since 2018, built around a virtual office and a distributed team well before that became common practice, completing the entire relocation without setting foot in Hong Kong fit naturally with how WeCall already worked.
"So all our processes are online, and we have a virtual office where everyone can talk with each other."
Operational Efficiency and Growth Potential
With Statrys' support, WeCall transitioned to Hong Kong in under 10 days without disrupting operations. The results were transformative:
| Impact Area | Results Achieved |
|---|---|
| Cost Savings | Reduced admin costs by over 25% annually by eliminating nominee director fees and streamlining operations. |
| Payroll Savings | Replaced costly SWIFT transfers with local payments in HKD, cutting payroll costs from SGD 180/month and saving roughly HKD 10,800 a year. |
| Tax Optimisation | Paid 0% corporate tax on income earned outside Hong Kong, saving approximately USD 15,000 a year on business revenue. |
| Optimised Payments | Streamlined payroll and supplier payments across regions on the Statrys platform, reducing delays by 30%. |
| Compliance Efficiency | Cut compliance workloads by 40% by outsourcing regulatory processes to Statrys, freeing leadership to focus on growth. |
Cutting the nominee director requirement alone made an immediate difference to the bottom line.
"The main cost we've saved is, of course, the nominee director requirement. You need one in Singapore, but not in Hong Kong, and that's something like SGD 2,500 a year. So just by switching, we cut that cost off entirely."
Compliance has been just as clear a win: it's now handled entirely by Statrys, rather than sitting on Lance's own plate.
"Since we've moved to Hong Kong, we don't have this problem anymore, because someone on the Statrys team takes care of all of this compliance for us."
These savings freed WeCall to reinvest in the business and hire new team members, accelerating its expansion into European markets.
Why Statrys?
WeCall selected Statrys for its track record supporting SMEs with cross-border operations: speed and efficiency in relocating, transparent pricing with no hidden fees, a fully digital process from first contact to document submission, and multi-currency payments and compliance management suited to how WeCall runs.
Underlying all of it, for Lance, was what having a dedicated company secretary actually freed him up to do.
"My idea is that the job of the company secretary is to bring me emotional relief, to make sure I can focus on my main activity."
That extended to day-to-day support too: Lance has three points of contact at Statrys, including his account manager, and describes getting fast, clear answers whenever he needs them, with no complaints about the service so far.
For Lance, the bigger lesson extends past his own move to Hong Kong.
"Don't let other things like block your way. You should be able to focus a hundred percent on it and develop this idea, this vision you had."
Before Statrys
- Singapore's mandatory nominee director requirement added around SGD 2,500 a year in extra costs.
- Compliance was handled through outside legal professionals, a complex and costly approach compared to a dedicated company secretary.
- Paying staff in Thailand, the US, and France through SWIFT costs around USD 30 per transfer, plus unnecessary FX fees.
- Yearly administrative and legal fees ran three to four times higher than in Hong Kong.
After Statrys
- Company creation in Hong Kong was incorporated within two weeks, with all procedures handled digitally.
- A multi-currency business account covers 11 currencies, including HKD, USD, EUR, and GBP.
- Compliance is handled by a dedicated contact at Statrys, removing the burden from Lance entirely.
- Admin costs are down by over 25% annually, with compliance workloads cut by 40%.
