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🇸🇬 Legislation2 Jul 2024

Singapore passes laws on corporate service providers, nominee directors and beneficial ownership

Singapore's Parliament passed the Corporate Service Providers Bill and the Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill on 2 July 2024. All Singapore corporate service providers must register with ACRA, nominee directors must be arranged through a registered CSP, nominee directors and shareholders are flagged on the public register, and register-keeping penalties rise to S$25,000.

Singapore's Parliament debated and passed two bills on 2 July 2024: the Corporate Service Providers (CSP) Bill and the Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill. They followed a Ministry of Finance and ACRA consultation in March 2024 and Financial Action Task Force recommendations.

What changed: corporate service providers
  • Every Singapore entity providing corporate services must register with ACRA as a CSP, not only those that file documents with ACRA.
  • A person may act as a nominee director by way of business only if the appointment is arranged by a registered CSP. CSPs must check that nominee directors are fit and proper.
  • The maximum penalty for CSPs that fail their anti-money laundering duties rises from S$25,000 to S$100,000, and senior management can be fined.
What changed: companies and LLPs
  • Companies must tell ACRA about their nominee directors and nominee shareholders, including who the nominators are. ACRA publishes which directors and shareholders are nominees but not the nominators' identities.
  • Companies and LLPs must verify their registrable controllers' details every year.
  • Giving ACRA false or misleading register information becomes an offence, and penalties for register offences rise from S$5,000 to S$25,000.
Who is affected

Singapore companies, LLPs and foreign companies, their nominee directors and shareholders, and corporate service providers.

Later developments

The Companies and LLP amendments took effect on 16 June 2025. Existing companies had until 31 December 2025 to file nominee information with ACRA. CSP registration became mandatory from June 2025.

Sources