Business Registers in Singapore: ACRA and BizFile

Overview

Singapore's business registration system is administered by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), the national registrar for companies, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and limited liability partnerships (LLPs). All filing, search, and retrieval happens through a single electronic platform, BizFile.

For KYB and AML compliance, Singapore exposes company identity, officers, and shareholders through BizFile, with detailed profiles and financial statements available for purchase. Beneficial ownership data is not public: entities must maintain a Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC), but the register is restricted to public agencies and law enforcement. A 2024 amendment (effective June 2025) added registers of nominee directors (ROND) and nominee shareholders (RONS) along the same access model.

Official Registers

ACRA – BizFile

BizFile is ACRA's electronic portal and the central gateway for all business registration and filing activity in Singapore. Relaunched on 9 December 2024 (replacing the previous BizFile+ platform), it serves as both the filing system and the public search interface for Singapore-registered entities.

BizFile covers all entity types registered with ACRA: private limited companies (Pte Ltd), public companies (Ltd), companies limited by guarantee (CLG), sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited partnerships (LP), and limited liability partnerships (LLP). Foreign companies registered to operate in Singapore are also included. The dataset maintained by ACRA is updated as filings are processed, and business registry statistics are published monthly.

A basic entity search on BizFile is available to the public and typically returns:

• Entity name and Unique Entity Number (UEN)
• Entity type and status (live, struck off, dissolved, etc.)
• Registration date
• Registered office address
• Principal activities (SSIC codes; the classification migrated from SSIC 2020 to SSIC 2025 in 2025, with all entities re-mapped automatically by ACRA, so activity-code searches may return unexpected results during the transition)

More detailed information (director particulars, shareholder details, share capital, filed documents, and registration history) is available for purchase through BizFile. Detailed company profiles, known as "Business Profile" reports, can be purchased by anyone.

Documents filed with ACRA, such as the company constitution (articles of association) and annual returns (which may include financial statements), can also be purchased through the portal. Access for authenticated users (Singapore residents and entities) is via SingPass or CorpPass.

Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC)

Since 31 March 2017, all companies, foreign companies, and LLPs incorporated or registered in Singapore must maintain a Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) unless specifically exempted. A registrable controller is generally an individual with significant interest in or significant control over the entity, typically defined as holding 25% or more of the shares or voting rights, or otherwise exercising significant control.

The RORC must be kept at the entity's registered office (or that of its registered filing agent) and updated within two business days of any change. Since July 2020, entities have been required to lodge RORC information with ACRA electronically. Since 16 June 2025, newly incorporated entities must file their RORC with ACRA on the date of incorporation (previously a grace period applied).

The RORC is not publicly accessible. Only public agencies such as law enforcement and certain regulatory authorities may access the data. There is no public-facing UBO register in Singapore, so for compliance teams conducting KYB checks, beneficial ownership details must be obtained directly from the entity.

Entities exempt from maintaining the RORC include companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Singapore-licensed financial institutions (banks, insurers, capital markets intermediaries), and certain government-linked entities.

Registers of Nominee Directors and Nominee Shareholders (ROND / RONS)

The Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 (CLLPMA), effective 16 June 2025, introduced two new transparency registers alongside the RORC:

• Register of Nominee Directors (ROND): companies and foreign companies must record any director acting as a nominee, the identity of the nominator, and the basis of the nominee arrangement.
• Register of Nominee Shareholders (RONS): companies must record any shareholder holding shares on behalf of another person, the identity of the nominator, and the underlying arrangement.

Both registers must be maintained internally and lodged with ACRA. Like the RORC, the ROND and RONS are not publicly accessible: data is available only to authorities. The reform addresses a long-standing gap in Singapore's beneficial-ownership regime, since nominee structures are a common opacity vector in offshore-style holding arrangements.

Penalties for non-compliance with the RORC, ROND, and RONS obligations were raised by the CLLPMA from S$5,000 to S$25,000 per breach.

The CLLPMA also rolled out alongside the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 (CSP Act): all Corporate Service Providers must now be registered with ACRA and are subject to enhanced AML/CFT obligations when filing on behalf of clients.

Registry of Societies (ROS)

Societies (clubs, associations, and certain non-profit organisations) are registered under the Societies Act with the Registry of Societies, administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs. These entities are not registered with ACRA and do not appear in the BizFile database. Non-profit organisations structured as companies limited by guarantee (CLG) are registered with ACRA.

Cooperatives

Cooperative societies are registered with the Registry of Co-operative Societies under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, separate from ACRA.

Registration and Publication Requirements

Companies (Pte Ltd, Ltd, CLG)

All companies must be registered with ACRA. The most common form is the private company limited by shares (Pte Ltd). Companies limited by guarantee (CLG) are typically used for non-profit activities such as charitable organisations and associations. Public companies (Ltd) are used where shares are offered to the public.

Companies must maintain statutory registers internally, including registers of directors, secretaries, members (shareholders), and share capital. Changes to directors and shareholders must be updated within 14 days and filed with ACRA.

Annual returns must be filed with ACRA within seven months of the company's financial year-end. These returns must include financial statements for most companies. The filing format depends on the company's size and type:

• Listed companies and companies that are banks or financial institutions file using specific XBRL templates.
• All other Singapore-incorporated companies that are not small and not publicly accountable must file full XBRL financial statements along with a PDF copy of directors-authorised financial statements.
• Exempt private companies (EPCs), private companies with no more than 20 shareholders and no corporate shareholders, may be exempt from filing financial statements if they are solvent and meet the "small company" criteria. A company qualifies as small if it meets at least two of three criteria: total revenue ≤ S$10 million, total assets ≤ S$10 million, and number of employees ≤ 50.

Financial statements filed as part of annual returns are publicly available for purchase through BizFile.

Audit obligations apply to companies that do not qualify as small. Small companies are exempt from statutory audit requirements.

UBO filing (RORC) is mandatory for all companies unless specifically exempted (listed companies, licensed financial institutions).

Sole Proprietorships and Partnerships

Sole proprietorships and partnerships must be registered with ACRA. All profit-making operations carried out on a regular basis must be registered. Sole proprietors operate under their personal names unless they register a business name. They do not have a separate legal personality and are personally liable for all business debts.

Sole proprietorships and partnerships are not required to file annual financial statements with ACRA. They are subject to personal income tax rather than corporate tax. Sole proprietors must still maintain the RORC where applicable (for LLPs), though for a sole proprietorship the owner is self-evidently the controller.

Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs)

LLPs must be registered with ACRA and are required to maintain a RORC and lodge the information with ACRA. LLPs must file an annual declaration of solvency or insolvency with ACRA but are not required to file financial statements.

Foreign Companies

Foreign companies establishing a place of business in Singapore must register with ACRA. They must maintain a public register of members that can be inspected by the public. Members of the foreign company can inspect the register free of charge; other persons may be charged a fee. The register must be kept at the company's registered office in Singapore or another location in Singapore, and ACRA must be notified of the address within 30 days of any change. Foreign companies are also required to maintain a RORC.

Summary Table

With Topograph

Topograph queries ACRA (both the public Open Data feed and the paid Business Profile) to return Singapore company identity, officers, and shareholders in a single API call.

Available Data

Company Profile

• Legal name and Unique Entity Number (UEN)
• Entity type (Pte Ltd, Ltd, CLG, LLP, sole proprietorship, partnership, foreign company)
• Registration date and status
• Registered office address
• Principal activity codes (SSIC)
• Share capital

Legal Representatives

• Names and roles of directors and corporate secretaries
• Appointment and resignation history

Shareholders

• Shareholder names and share allocations
• Share class and ownership percentage

Beneficial ownership data from the RORC is not publicly available and therefore not accessible through Topograph. Officer and shareholder data is sourced from the authoritative Business Profile filing.

Available Documents

Other ACRA filings (the company constitution, annual returns, financial statements when filed) can be obtained directly from BizFile. UBO, ROND, and RONS extracts are not available, since none of those registers is publicly accessible.

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