The business register in Singapore is kept by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), the sole registrar of business entities, and is filed and searched through Bizfile, the revamped portal launched on 9 December 2024. ACRA administers the Companies Act 1967, the Business Names Registration Act 2014, the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005, the Limited Partnerships Act 2008, the Variable Capital Companies Act 2018 and the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024. Every registered entity holds a Unique Entity Number (UEN), the standard government-wide identifier.

The company registry in Singapore

Singapore keeps everything in one place. Companies, limited liability partnerships, limited partnerships, variable capital companies and — importantly — sole proprietorships and general partnerships are all registered with ACRA, the last two under the Business Names Registration Act 2014, described in its own long title as an Act to provide for the registration of persons carrying on business in Singapore. Variable capital companies are filed through a separate portal, and ACRA also offers a scheme allowing an entity to select a preferred Unique Entity Number.

Two recent statutes reshaped the transparency rules and both are now in force. The ACRA (Registry and Regulatory Enhancements) Act 2024 commenced on 9 December 2024, and the Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 together with the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 commenced in June 2025. Their effects are set out below.

Legal forms that can be registered in Singapore

  • Sole proprietorship — Business Names Registration Act 2014. Not a separate legal person; the owner bears unlimited personal liability. Registration is renewable.
  • General partnership — Business Names Registration Act 2014. Between two and twenty partners, no separate legal personality, and partners are jointly and severally liable without limit.
  • Limited partnership — Limited Partnerships Act 2008. At least one general partner with unlimited liability and one limited partner whose liability is capped at the agreed contribution; no separate legal personality.
  • Limited liability partnership — Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005. A separate legal person with perpetual succession whose partners are not personally liable for the partnership’s debts or for another partner’s wrongful acts.
  • Private company limited by shares — Companies Act 1967. A separate legal person with up to fifty members whose liability is limited to the unpaid share capital. The dominant Singapore form.
  • Exempt private company — a private company with not more than twenty members, none of which is a corporation holding a beneficial interest in its shares. A solvent exempt private company is exempt from filing financial statements.
  • Public company limited by shares — Companies Act 1967. More than fifty members, able to offer shares to the public, with a prospectus lodged with the financial regulator.
  • Public company limited by guarantee — no share capital; members guarantee a fixed sum on winding up. The usual structure for charities and non-profits.
  • Unlimited company, private or public — members have unlimited liability and share capital is optional.
  • Foreign company branch — registered under Part 11 of the Companies Act 1967; not a separate legal entity, so the foreign parent bears liability.
  • Variable capital company — Variable Capital Companies Act 2018, administered by ACRA. A corporate structure for investment funds whose sub-funds have segregated assets and liabilities.

One entity type is not registered with ACRA: a representative office is handled by Enterprise Singapore and is a temporary set-up with no legal status that may not engage in profit-yielding activity.

Information available from the Singapore business register

Bizfile offers free searches with no login or payment: an entity search by name or Unique Entity Number returning the live status and registered address, an industry search, a people search and a reserved name search. Fuller information is bought as information products: the business profile, the corporate compliance and financial profile, the people profile, extracts of past filings, certificates and registers.

A business profile shows the Unique Entity Number, the entity name, the date of incorporation or registration, the registered address, the status, the principal activities, the position holders such as directors and the secretary, and the shareholders or business owners with their shareholdings; for a variable capital company it also shows the sub-funds, the manager and the auditor. It is electronically certified by an assistant registrar and is admissible as evidence in court.

Financial statements are filed in XBRL by all Singapore-incorporated companies except dormant relevant companies and solvent exempt private companies, in full or simplified format depending on size, with sector-specific templates for banks and insurers and a portable document format filing for companies limited by guarantee.

What is restricted

Three points matter here, and each is commonly misstated.

First, the register of registrable controllers is not public. ACRA states that the information helps law enforcement agencies investigate financial crimes but is not available to the public, and that members of the public cannot view or buy it; access is limited to the company’s officers and corporate service providers and to public agencies enforcing written law. Since June 2025 the register must be maintained from the date of incorporation with no grace period, verified annually and updated within seven calendar days, with substantially increased maximum fines.

Second, residential addresses are no longer displayed. The former alternate address arrangement was replaced from 9 December 2024 by a contact address, which is the default public-facing address; existing alternate addresses were converted automatically. Residential addresses are still filed but are not shown publicly.

Third, on nominees, the reform that took effect in June 2025 made the nominee status of a nominee director or nominee shareholder public, so it appears in the business profile, while the identity of the nominator is held in ACRA’s central registers of nominee directors and nominee shareholders and is accessible only to public agencies administering or enforcing written law. Existing entities had until the end of 2025 to file; new entities file on incorporation. There is no Singapore statute called a corporate registers transparency act, and references to one should be read as referring to these two 2024 Acts.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • Business profile — the entity’s current registered particulars, as described above. The standard document for know-your-customer checks, due diligence, bank account opening, tenders and court evidence.
  • Corporate compliance and financial profile — the business profile together with financial health indicators, financial ratios and the audit and directors’ opinions. Used for credit and counterparty assessment.
  • People profile — an individual’s registered businesses, current and past appointments and shareholding amounts, together with public accountant status where applicable. Used for director and ownership background checks.
  • Extracts — copies of documents previously filed by the entity, such as annual returns and audited accounts; the route to historical research and litigation evidence.
  • Certificates — certified confirmation of business information or entity status. Singapore issues an electronic confirmation rather than a paper certificate of incorporation by default, and these certificates are what is used for overseas registration and legalisation.
  • Registers — official lists of a company’s members, directors, chief executive officers, secretaries or auditors.
  • Financial statements in XBRL — purchasable for entities that are not exempt from filing.

ACRA products are electronically certified and their authenticity can be verified through the authority’s verification service; bulk access is available through its application programming interface marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who keeps the business register in Singapore?

The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, which registers companies, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, variable capital companies, sole proprietorships and business names, and which files and searches through the Bizfile portal.

Are sole proprietors registered with ACRA?

Yes. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships register with ACRA under the Business Names Registration Act 2014, in the same system as companies.

What is a UEN?

The Unique Entity Number, the standard permanent identifier issued to every registered entity and used across all government agencies.

Is beneficial ownership public in Singapore?

No. The register of registrable controllers is not available to the public; access is limited to the entity’s officers and service providers and to public agencies enforcing written law.

Are directors’ residential addresses shown?

No. Since December 2024 a contact address is displayed as the default public-facing address, replacing the earlier alternate address arrangement; residential addresses remain filed but are not published.

Can I tell whether a Singapore director is a nominee?

Yes. Since June 2025 nominee status is public and appears in the business profile, but the identity of the nominator is held in ACRA’s central registers and is accessible only to public agencies.

Sources

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