Starting from filing an online submission to local market regulation authorities, it took only half an hour for Creative Culture Chaoplay (Dongguan) Trading Ltd to see its application request permitted and become the first Hong Kong-funded enterprise registered online in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

"Without the submission of paper documents, the registration process was done fully online," said Andy Marcus Yang, president of the trading company.

To optimize its market entry environment for Hong Kong businesses, the market regulation authority in Dongguan, a major manufacturing and trade hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, has launched an online registration system for Hong Kong-funded enterprises.

Such service by Dongguan helps Hong Kong-funded enterprises reduce the time consumed in the process between application and approval from half a month to about one hour.

"The service would greatly shorten the time for Hong Kong-funded enterprises to apply for a business presence in Dongguan," said Zeng Lingqun, deputy director of the business registration department at the Dongguan Market Regulation Bureau.

Hong Kong-funded enterprises have played an important role in the nation's socioeconomic development. The first processing company on the Chinese mainland was invested by a Hong Kong firm's Dongguan branch in 1978, the local government said.

As of the end of September, there were 8,227 Hong Kong-funded enterprises in Dongguan, accounting for 53.39 percent of overseas-funded enterprises in Dongguan, it said.

Previous business registration for Hong Kong investors required much signature work, which was very time-consuming in general — at least half a month was needed to prepare paper documents, Zeng said.

"With the application process now having been put online, applicants will no longer be 'annoyed' by giving signatures for registration," he said.

Zeng added that the local market regulation authority will further deepen the reform of registrations for overseas businesses and optimize services to attract investment.

"More services like the online registration system will be introduced in the near future to create a more standardized and convenient market access environment and promote efficient foreign investment in the Greater Bay Area," Zeng said.

Dongguan's actual use of foreign investment stood at 4.68 billion yuan ($646.8 million) in the first half of this year, the local government said. Its agreed investment grew 4.4 percent year-on-year to 184.3 billion yuan during the same period.