A process agent is a representative/an address upon whom court papers may be served. Such agent accepts services of notices, proceedings or documents on behalf of their overseas clients in situations where it is not possible for them to be served abroad. 

They also can act in a broad capacity for a company including but not limited to: acting as an agent for court actions, receiving documents in connection with arbitration proceedings and receiving notices under contracts where an independent party is needed. 

A process agent is also known as registered agent, resident agent , statutory agent or agent for service of process in other jurisdictions but the role is analogous.

Why do you need a Processing Agent?

The role for a process agent can be vital for cross-border transactions. If one of the involved parties does not have a physical presence or address within the jurisdiction where the transaction is taking place, serving legal documentation can become a long and overly complicated process.

 Further to that, if papers have to be served abroad, where the relevant transaction party has its presence, this can cause delays, among other issues.

Case study

An individual client recently engaged our process agent Hong Kong services for a period of 25 years. The client lives overseas and bought a property in Hong Kong, which he mortgaged through a local Hong Kong bank / financial institution. One of the conditions of the mortgage deed was to have a local agent in place and we were happily to assist the client with this matter.