Hong Kong is proposing to restrict access to personal information on company directors, after investigative news reports exposed fortunes linked to Chinese leaders.
Under the proposed changes, home addresses and ID card or passport numbers of directors would be obscured in company filings, starting from the first quarter of 2014. The details could also be removed from historical filings on request.
Currently, anyone can access these details online for a nominal fee. The new law would restrict access to certain groups including law enforcement, regulators and liquidators.
The proposals highlight fears that Hong Kong's position as a relatively transparent and open Asian business centre is slipping. Detailed information on public and private companies and land transactions is widely available.
That is not the case in other Asian jurisdictions, especially mainland China, where most company information is secret. Some details such as names of board members or senior executives are public, but other details, if available, can only be accessed by people such as lawyers who are authorised to see files at commercial bureaus.
In Japan, personal information is protected by privacy policies and laws. In South Korea, publicly listed companies are required only to disclose basic information such as names, birth dates and employment history of directors.
Hong Kong has become a popular place for mainland Chinese businesspeople and government officials to hide their wealth through shell companies. In one high-profile case last year, a detailed report by Bloomberg on the wealth of relatives of China's incoming president, Xi Jinping, relied on identity card numbers mined from company filings. The New York Times used such data for articles about the wealth of Premier Wen Jiabao's family.
The changes proposed by the financial services and treasury bureau and the companies registry are aimed at increasing privacy protection, according to a consultation document released in November. The provisions attracted little notice until this week, when they were outlined in a briefing paper submitted to the legislature's financial affairs panel.
David Webb, a shareholder activist, said the proposals were bad for transparency. "They make it harder for investors, researchers, journalists and members of the public to find connections between individuals and companies. That makes it harder to expose corruption," he said.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said the move was "a serious limitation on investigative reporting" and "an infringement of the public interest". It said access to the information had helped uncover illegal activities by government officials, politicians and businesspeople.
The Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong also objected, posting an open letter calling on the city's leader, Leung Chun-ying, to withdraw the proposals.