Public Consultation on Corporate Service Providers Bill and Proposed Amendments to Companies Act and Limited Liability Partnerships Act
12 Mar 2024 The Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) have proposed a new Corporate Service Providers (CSP) Bill to enhance the regulatory regime for the CSP sector, and legislative amendments to the Companies Act 1967 and Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005 to enhance the transparency of beneficial ownership of companies and limited liability partnerships. Members of the public are invited to provide their feedback on the proposals from 12 to 25 March 2024.
2. The key proposals aim to:
a. Enhance the regulatory regime for CSPs by:
• Requiring all business entities carrying on a business of providing corporate services in and from Singapore to register with ACRA; and
• Introducing fines of up to $100,000 on registered CSPs and their senior management upon conviction for non-compliance with obligations for the purpose of detecting and preventing money laundering, the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism financing.
b. Combat the misuse of nominee directorship arrangements by prohibiting persons from acting as nominee directors by way of business unless their appointments are arranged by registered CSPs and they have been assessed as fit and proper by the registered CSPs; and
c. Enhance corporate transparency by requiring nominee directors and shareholders to disclose their nominee status and identities of their nominators to ACRA, and increasing the penalties for breaches of obligations pertaining to the Register of Registrable Controllers, Register of Nominee Directors and Register of Nominee Shareholders.
3. The public can access the public consultation documents of the new CSP Bill and the Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill on the REACH consultation portal (https://www.reach.gov.sg/participate/public-consultation), and the websites of MOF (https://www.mof.gov.sg/news-publications/public-consultations) and ACRA (https://acra.gov.sg/legislation/legislative-reform/listing-of-consultation-papers).4. Interested parties can submit their comments via FormSG (go.gov.sg/cspbillpc).
Issued by:
Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority
Ministry of Finance
Singapore
12 March 2024