Singapore’s Corporate Register: How It Works & 2025 Reforms Guide
Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) runs one of the world’s most advanced corporate registers.
According to Oonagh van den Berg, founder of Virtual Risk Solutions, it might be one of the most transparent official registers globally, going far beyond its traditional role as a record-keeper of corporate information.
However, accessing and interpreting its data still poses challenges for KYC and KYB professionals.
This guide explains how ACRA works, what information is publicly available, how to access it, and how recent reforms have changed the compliance landscape in 2025. It includes tips for conducting due diligence on Singaporean companies, understanding nominee structures, and navigating API or BizFile+ access.
What is the Singapore Corporate Register?
The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is Singapore’s regulator of business entities, public accountants, and corporate service providers, as well as its national corporate register.
As the Second Minister for Finance, Ms Indranee Rajah, said in January 2025, “ACRA is empowered to collect and maintain information on business entities and their associated individuals.”
What information is available in the Singapore Corporate Register?
As of 2025, ACRA holds information on business entities and their associated individuals.
Information on business entities
Business’s name
Unique Entity Number (UEN)
Incorporation date
Status (live, dormant or wound up)
Registered address
Business activity
Paid-up capital
Shareholders.
Information on associated individuals
Name
Nationality
Identification number (such as the NRIC number)
Contact address
Past and present positions
For a brief period between 9-13 December 2025, individual National Registration Identification Card (NRIC) numbers were available for view until public outcry prompted the authorities to remove them.
What is Singapore’s beneficial ownership register?
Since 2017, companies in Singapore have been required to maintain a record of their beneficial owners, also known as a Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC).
Since 2020, companies have been required to file the same information with ACRA’s Central RORC.
Unlike the UK’s PSC register, Singapore’s beneficial ownership data and nominee director/shareholder registers are accessible only to law enforcement. That’s a critical difference and a due diligence blind spot.
Due diligence tip: Always request confirmation of RORC compliance when onboarding a Singaporean entity, especially in high-risk cases.
How to Search ACRA’s Corporate Register With BizFile+
ACRA’s corporate register online portal, BizFile, is mostly free to use for basic searches, providing information on company names, incorporation dates, and business activity (SSIC codes).
1. Access the ACRA website
Open your web browser and go to the official ACRA website: ACRA Homepage.
2. Navigate to BizFile+
On the ACRA homepage, look for the link to BizFile+. This is the business filing and information retrieval system operated by ACRA. Click on the BizFile+ link to be redirected to the BizFile+ portal.
3. Search for a business
Once on the BizFile+ portal, locate the search bar or the option that says ‘Search’. Click on ‘Entity Search’ or use the search bar available on the homepage.
4. Enter search criteria
You can search for companies using various criteria:
Company Name
Unique Entity Number (UEN)
Business Activity.
Enter the relevant details in the search field and click ‘Search’.
5. Review search results
The results will display a list of businesses that match your search criteria. You can click on the company name to view more details.
6. View company details
Clicking on the company name will bring up a summary of the basic business information:
Company name
Registration date
Registered office address.
For more detailed information, log in to make a payment.
7. Log in for detailed information
If you need detailed financial information, log in with your SingPass or CorpPass. Follow the prompts to log in and proceed with the information request to pay for company filings.
Documents Available via BizFile+
For a fee, users can purchase company filings, including:
Business Profile – Overview of company activity, shareholders, capital, and charges
Corporate Compliance and Financial Profile – Financial info, audit data, shareholder details
Certificate of Incorporation – Proof of legal existence and historical names
Electronic Registers – Info on directors, shareholders, and secretaries
Document Bundles – Prepackaged reports for convenience.
Available APIs and Open Data
There are other ways to access company information in Singapore, via APIs and open data.
API
ACRA launched its new API Marketplace on May 26, 2024, phasing out the legacy API Mall. It offers a range of new APIs:
Entity Information Query (EIQ) — Officers and company basics
Financial Information Query (FIQ) — Financial highlights in XBRL format
trustBar Verification Query (TVQ) — Verify the authenticity of business profiles.
Subscription packages are available. Further API services, including a new Business Profile Data API and transactional APIs, are planned for progressive release in 2025.
Remember: foreign firms can apply for access to ACRA’s API Marketplace, but it involves extra onboarding steps. Integrating ACRA data via third-party providers like Kyckr saves time. It’s also more efficient, providing one API integration to 300+ official corporate registers.
Open Data
ACRA publishes a monthly dataset of over 1.5 million registered entities. The machine-readable files include:
Basic Info: Name, UEN, Status, Entity type, Incorporation date
Address: Registered office address
Accounts: Annual return dates, filing deadlines
SSIC Classification: Primary, secondary business activity
Position Holders: Officer count
Former Names: Previous entity’s names
Audit Firm Info: Firm name, UEN
Is ACRA reliable?
ACRA is an archive, not a historian, relying on businesses to tell the truth about themselves. In short, it does not verify the submitted information. However, in recent years, ACRA has become more proactive, a similar trend to Companies House.
It has implemented various initiatives to improve data quality, including the UDAP project. Since 2023, a specialised ACRA unit has used data analytics to detect anomalous activity, particularly of corporate service providers, increasing actions against them by 394% since 2021.
Statistical data reveal a dramatic increase in company cessations, particularly in 2024, with over 50,000 entities struck off or ceasing operations after ACRA removed potentially misused dormant entities from the register.
Recent AML Trends in Singapore
Singapore's updated 2024 National Risk Assessment identified cyber-enabled fraud as the primary threat, particularly involving foreign criminal syndicates. This follows similar patterns detailed by recent FATF data.
However, corporate service providers (CSPs) and Variable Capital Companies (VCCs) also present persistent challenges for KYB professionals.
Corporate Service Providers (CSPs)
ACRA has significantly escalated enforcement actions against corporate service providers. In the first half of 2024, 14 registered CSPs had their registrations cancelled for facilitating the misuse of nominee directorships, a marked increase in regulatory intervention compared to previous years.
CSPs are assessed as higher risk within the DNFBP sector due to their role in providing ‘upstream services’ such as company incorporation. The risk assessment identifies several concerning patterns:
CSPs have been directly linked to shell company misuse in multiple cases.
Foreign criminals exploit mandatory local director requirements by engaging CSPs for nominee services.
Some CSPs fail to conduct adequate due diligence on beneficial owners and nominee directors.
ACRA has increased enforcement. Profiling of individuals holding multiple directorships to identify nominee abuse, with at least 21 enforcement actions against such individuals. Cancelling and banning CSPs with severe AML breaches. And, enhancing scrutiny of dormant company deregistration since September 2023.
Risks of Using VCCs for Fund Structuring: 2025 Update
A VCC is an increasingly popular corporate structure available in Singapore since 2020, enabling the management of multiple corporate funds in one entity.
The country’s financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), identified several compliance gaps that financial crime professionals must address:
Some VCCs fail to maintain assets with independent custodians, a requirement for most VCCs.
Additional directors are appointed who are not licensed representatives of the VCC manager, despite engaging in regulated activities.
The use of dormant VCCs that are merely passive conduits for repackaging existing investments without fund management input.
Poor maintenance of beneficial ownership registers.
2025 Reforms to the Singapore Corporate Register
Corporate Service Providers Act 2024
The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024, which came into force on 9 June 2025, represents the most significant overhaul of Singapore's corporate services sector in recent years.
This legislation closes critical regulatory gaps by expanding oversight to all entities providing corporate services, not just those filing transactions with ACRA.
Key provisions include:
Mandatory registration for all CSPs by 9 December 2025 (6-month transitional window)
Criminal liability for CSPs and senior management, with fines up to S$100,000 for AML/CFT/PF breaches
Prohibition of nominee director services unless arranged by registered CSPs
Fit and proper assessments are required for all nominee directors arranged by CSPs.
Enhanced Beneficial Ownership Transparency
The Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 introduced sweeping transparency reforms.
Key provisions include:
Immediate BO Register Maintenance: New companies must maintain beneficial ownership registers from incorporation (removing the previous 30-day grace period)
Annual Verification Requirement: Companies must now verify controller information annually using prescribed templates
Faster Updates: BO register updates must be recorded within 7 calendar days (previously 30 days)
Increased Penalties: Maximum fines increased from S$5,000 to S$25,000 for register-related offences
Public Disclosure: Nominee status will be publicly visible in business profiles, while nominator identities remain accessible only to authorities.
Beyond 2025: Emerging AML Threats to Singapore
Singapore's updated ML National Risk Assessment identifies cyber-enabled fraud as the primary threat, particularly involving foreign criminal syndicates.
Singapore faces particular exposure due to its role as a regional fintech hub, following similar AML threat trends to the United Kingdom, and the increasing use of digital payment tokens.
Emerging risk factors include:
AI-powered synthetic identity creation for nominee arrangements
Cross-border cryptocurrency flows obscuring beneficial ownership
Automated shell company incorporation using compromised identities
Deepfake technology enabling remote KYC bypass.
Singaporeans have a high level of public trust compared to other countries, which makes them more vulnerable to fraud than other high-income nations, as several high-profile cases have shown.
Access the global business register
ACRA has a significant limitation: direct public access to beneficial ownership information (RORC) and detailed nominee registers is restricted to law enforcement.
Therefore, financial crime professionals cannot rely on a single point of truth; they must use a multi-source verification strategy to build up a reliable picture of Singaporean beneficial ownership. Kyckr provides real-time access to 300+ official company registers, including an easily integrated API and instant UBO verification.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I verify a company’s directors and shareholders in Singapore?
You can purchase company extracts via BizFile+, but it’s a manual process and requires a SingPass or a local agent.
Can I automate access to Singapore company data?
Yes. ACRA offers an API, but access is restricted and onboarding can be complex, especially for foreign firms. Kyckr offers ready-to-use APIs and dashboard tools that integrate seamlessly into your existing systems, giving you real-time access to official data from ACRA and global registers with no need to build or maintain direct integrations yourself.
Can I access beneficial ownership data for Singapore companies?
No, Singapore’s Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) is not publicly accessible. Only law enforcement can view beneficial ownership details filed with ACRA.
What information is included in a Singapore company profile?
A full business profile from ACRA includes:
Company name and UEN (Unique Entity Number)
Incorporation date and legal status
Registered address
Business activities (SSIC codes)
Shareholders and paid-up capital
Directors and officers (past and present)
How can I verify a Singapore company’s registration status?
You can check a company’s status — live, dormant, or struck off — using ACRA’s BizFile+ portal. But if you want verified, up-to-date registration data delivered instantly through your onboarding system, Kyckr connects directly to ACRA and 300+ official registers worldwide.
Can I access historical company data for Singapore entities?
Yes. ACRA keeps records of:
Former company names
Previous shareholders and directors
Registration history and cessation info.
