{"id":3194,"date":"2026-01-20T17:47:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/wptest\/2026\/01\/20\/tmf-group-malaysia-ranked-9th-for-global-business-complexity\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T17:44:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:44:40","slug":"tmf-group-malaysia-ranked-9th-for-global-business-complexity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/2026\/01\/20\/tmf-group-malaysia-ranked-9th-for-global-business-complexity\/","title":{"rendered":"TMF Group: Malaysia ranked 9th for global business complexity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kuala Lumpur, 11 August 2020 <\/b>– Malaysia is the 9th most complex country for multinationals to do business in globally, and the 3rd most complex in Asia, according to a new report by professional services firm TMF Group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Global Business Complexity Index <\/span>analyses key areas of business administration and compliance across 77 jurisdictions – from the time it takes to incorporate, to changes in tax legislation, to policies around wages and benefits, through to the challenges of opening a bank account. In all, over 250 different criteria are factored into this year\u2019s rankings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It found that in Asia, only Indonesia (1st) and China (6th) represented a larger challenge for multinational firms looking to establish and operate local subsidiaries; on the opposite end of the scale, Hong Kong (66th) and Singapore (60th) are the continent\u2019s simplest jurisdictions for business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the drivers of Malaysia\u2019s high complexity is the incorporation process for foreign businesses, which can take up to a month. <\/span>Incorporation in Malaysia involves obtaining licences for all business premises. Licences are also required for operating in some industry sectors which will affect the required share capital. <\/span>The official business language in Malaysia is Malay, with English as the second language.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharon Yam, TMF Group\u2019s Managing Director for Malaysia, said: \u201cMalaysia offers a wealth of opportunities for international businesses, and there is clearly an appetite to attract more investment into the country. However, investors in Malaysia must be able to navigate its changing social, political and economic landscape. The country\u2019s legislation has a large impact on day-to-day business operations as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent years, as part of a drive to make Malaysia a more attractive place to do business, the government has launched a digital submission platform for audits and financial statements. While its use is not compulsory, the government is encouraging the companies to use it by giving an annual rebate of RM5,000 per year. This is part of the Malaysian government\u2019s strategy of simplifying processes to attract foreign direct investment which has helped move the country forward. We can expect to see the country\u2019s business complexity to start reducing as a result.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Malaysia\u2019s business environment had a number of positives which helps in their global positioning. As a former British colony, Malaysia\u2019s legal system is based on UK law, making the legal environment readily understandable to many multinational firms. Its accounting practices are internationally aligned, including adherence to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a common set of rules and regulations for financial statements that are understandable to businesses operating globally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The incorporation process is relatively simple, with businesses only needing to work with two bodies to do so, as opposed to three in Japan, Korea and Singapore, and more than seven in Indonesia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond Malaysia\u2019s borders, six of the ten most complex jurisdictions are in South America, with Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Greece, which occupied top spot last year, has made some improvements, and is now ranked 5th most complex this year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other end of the scale, the ten least complex jurisdictions to set up or operate in are those found in the Western hemisphere, with Curacao leading the way, followed by the United States of America, Jamaica, Denmark and the British Virgin Islands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To download a complimentary copy of the GBCI 2020 report, please click <\/span>here<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kuala Lumpur, 11 August 2020 – Malaysia is the 9th most complex country for multinationals to do business in globally, and the 3rd most complex in Asia, according to a new report by professional services firm TMF Group.\u00a0 The Global Business Complexity Index analyses key areas of business administration and compliance across 77 jurisdictions – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3491,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malaysian-business.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}