Singapore’s Company Registry (2026 Update)
Update: 14 May 2026
If you're conducting KYB due diligence on Singapore-registered entities, ACRA is your starting point. This guide covers what data is available, how to access it, what's changed recently, and where the gaps are. It's written for compliance teams at financial institutions and law firms.
What is ACRA?
The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is Singapore's regulator of business entities, public accountants, and corporate service providers. It is also the national corporate register. Every legal entity registered in Singapore sits in its database.
What information can you find?
ACRA holds two categories of data: information on business entities and information on the individuals associated with them.
Business entity data includes:
Name and Unique Entity Number (UEN).
Incorporation date.
Status (live, dormant, or wound up).
Registered address.
Business activity (SSIC codes).
Paid-up capital.
Shareholders.
Individual data includes:
Name and nationality.
Identification number.
Contact address.
Past and present positions held.
Note on SSIC codes: On 9 May 2026, ACRA updated all entities' business activity codes from SSIC 2020 to SSIC 2025. Affected entities were notified directly. If a company's activity looks misclassified in a search result, this transition is likely the reason. Entities can update their codes via BizFile if the new classification no longer fits.
What is Singapore's beneficial ownership register?
Since 2017, Singapore companies have been required to maintain a Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) identifying their beneficial owners. Since 2020, that information must also be lodged with ACRA's Central RORC.
The RORC is not publicly accessible. Only law enforcement can view it. Unlike the UK's PSC register, there is no public-facing UBO data in Singapore. For compliance teams, that's a genuine gap.
Practical tip: When onboarding a Singapore entity, ask directly for confirmation of RORC compliance, particularly in higher-risk cases. You cannot check it yourself through ACRA.
How to search the register using BizFile
ACRA's portal relaunched on 9 December 2024 as BizFile, replacing the previous BizFile+ system. Basic searches are free and require no account.
Step 1: Go to bizfile.gov.sg.
Step 2: Search by company name, UEN, or SSIC business activity code.
Step 3: Results show name, UEN, status, and entity type immediately.
Step 4: Click through to the core profile: UEN, registered address, incorporation date, business type, advertising protection status, and status. Click "Follow Company" to receive email alerts when the registry data changes. You can also see all other entities registered at the same address, which is useful for group structure work.
Step 5: Scroll down for collapsible detail sections:
Expanded business information: municipality, SSIC codes, VAT status, financial year details, articles of association, share classes, and registered capital.
Key individuals: founders and management with roles and addresses.
Legal owners: shareholdings, voting rights, and ownership change dates.
Financial statements: annual reports in XBRL or iXBRL format.
Registration history: a full timeline of changes since incorporation.
Nominee status: visible on the public profile where applicable.
Step 6: For anything beyond the summary, log in with SingPass or CorpPass. More on access restrictions below.
New in 2026: BizFile now integrates with IRAS and InvoiceNow, Singapore's national digital invoicing network. Four new shares eServices were launched in early 2026 under "Update shares information."
Downloading official documents
All documents except the registration certificate require a login. Prices as of January 2026:
Registration certificate: S$300.
Name change certificate: S$500.
Serviceattest: S$750.
Statutes: S$150.
Capital documentation: S$150.
Founding document: S$150.
Minutes of general meetings: S$150.
Assessment report: S$150.
Opening balance: S$150.
Merger plan: S$150.
Management statement: S$150.
Fission plan: S$150.
Statement on subsequent acquisitions: S$150.
Statement on self-financing: S$150.
Certified copy of accounts: S$150.
The serviceattest is the most comprehensive document available. It combines data from the ATP pension register, the tax authority, the probate court, and criminal records, making it the most useful single document for enhanced due diligence.
Access restrictions
To register an account and download documents, you need a Singapore national digital ID or an EU/EEA equivalent:
SingPass (personal or employee).
Employee digital ID from an EU/EEA country.
Private digital ID from an EU/EEA country.
In practice, this shuts out compliance teams at most non-EU institutions. Even within the EU, some countries are not supported: Iceland, Norway, Finland, Greece, Bulgaria, and Hungary are among those excluded.
If your team sits outside Singapore or the EEA, you need a data provider with direct registry access to obtain documents.
API access
ACRA's API Marketplace, launched May 2024, offers three APIs:
Entity Information Query (EIQ): officer data and company basics.
Financial Information Query (FIQ): financial highlights in XBRL format.
trustBar Verification Query (TVQ): verification of business profiles.
Further APIs have since been launched, including a Business Profile Data API. Foreign firms can apply for access, but the onboarding process involves extra steps. For high-volume compliance workflows, a third-party provider with existing API access, such as Kyckr, is the more practical route.
How reliable is ACRA's data?
ACRA scores highly in terms of company registry data reliability.
Automated Verification: According to the Business Register Insights 2024 report, ACRA verifies filings by cross-referencing external data sources such as tax databases, sanctions watchlists, and population registries.
Unique Identifiers: Directors are linked by unique identifiers.
Ongoing Monitoring: A dedicated analytics unit, running since 2023, monitors anomalous activity among corporate service providers.
Nominee Transparency: Nominee status is publicly disclosed.
Noncompliance: ACRA actively removes non-compliant entities: over 50,000 were struck off or ceased operations in 2024. From March 2026, a late filing flags a company's register status automatically, with no grace period.
Read more about registry reliability here.
Recent reforms (2026 Update)
Enforcement has hardened considerably. ACRA has increased actions against non-compliant CSPs by 394% since 2021. In the first half of 2024 alone, 14 registered CSPs had their registrations cancelled for facilitating nominee director misuse.
The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024
The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 came into force on 9 June 2025. The six-month registration window closed on 9 December 2025. Every firm providing corporate services in Singapore must now be registered with ACRA.
Key provisions now in force:
Criminal liability for CSPs and senior management, with fines up to S$100,000 for AML/CFT/PF breaches.
Nominee director services are prohibited unless arranged by a registered CSP.
Fit and proper assessments required for all nominee directors arranged by CSPs.
When onboarding a Singapore entity that uses a CSP, check that the CSP is registered with ACRA. You can verify this on BizFile.
Nominee registers: what changed in 2025
From 16 June 2025, companies must submit nominee director and nominee shareholder details to two new ACRA Central Registers: The Register of Nominee Directors (ROND) and the Register of Nominee Shareholders (RONS). Existing companies had until 31 December 2025 to file. New companies must file at incorporation.
Nominee status now appears on a company's public BizFile profile. The ROND and RONS themselves are restricted to authorities, as is the RORC. The public profile shows the flag; the details behind it stay closed.
Changes to nominee arrangements must be filed with ACRA within two business days.
For due diligence, a nominee flag on the public profile is a prompt to look harder at the underlying ownership structure. It's more signal than you had before 2025, even if the full picture remains out of reach.
Corporate and Accounting Laws (Amendment) Act 2025
CALA 2025 commenced on 6 May 2026, raising penalties for failures to maintain or update ROND, RONS, and RORC registers, and giving ACRA stronger enforcement powers across the board.
Combined with the CSP Act 2024 and the 2025 BO transparency amendments, the direction of travel is clear. Singapore is tightening its grip on nominee structures and beneficial ownership disclosure, and the penalties for non-compliance are now serious.
Accessing Singapore company data through Kyckr
ACRA's public register is one of the best in Asia. The gaps are known: no public UBO data, restricted nominee registers, and document access limited to Singapore and EU/EEA credential holders.
Kyckr provides live, API-based access to ACRA data and over 300 official registers worldwide, without the authentication barriers that block most third-country institutions. Book a demo to see how it works.