
Knowledge Highlights 9 May 2025
The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”) is conducting a public consultation on proposed amendments to the Companies Act (“CA”), Accountants Act, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Act (“ACRA Act”), Business Names Registration Act, Limited Liability Partnerships Act (“LLP Act”), Limited Partnerships Act and Variable Capital Companies Act 2018 on matters relating to data accuracy and privacy, digitalisation of correspondence and corporate transparency. The consultation closes on 28 January 2022.
Background
ACRA regularly reviews and seeks public feedback on legislation to foster a trusted and vibrant business environment in Singapore. Following its public consultation on proposed amendments to the CA in July 2020, ACRA is proposing additional amendments to the CA as well as other ACRA-administered legislation. The proposed amendments are to:
Improving filing convenience and data accuracy
As the national business registry, one of ACRA’s functions is to collect documents and information on business entities and related individuals, and public accountants, and to provide the public access to such information to enhance corporate transparency and facilitate business activity. The proposed amendments empower ACRA to:
This will reduce the amount of data customers must file with ACRA, improve convenience to filers, and improve the accuracy and value of the data to users. It will also facilitate Government-to-Business digital correspondences with business entities.
Balancing corporate transparency and personal data privacy
ACRA seeks to strike a balance between corporate transparency and personal data privacy and to address concerns that individuals may have over the disclosure of the personal data that they file with ACRA. ACRA has received feedback that it should limit the personal data that is made available publicly, and at the same time, there have been requests from government agencies and private institutions for ACRA to share more business data for research, enforcement, and verification purposes.
The proposed amendments seek to:
Facilitating digital correspondence to improve efficiency and support sustainability efforts
As part of Singapore’s move towards a Smart Nation and a Sustainable Singapore, ACRA seeks to go digital in its correspondences with business entities. The proposed amendments seek to:
Enhancing transparency of beneficial ownership of companies and LLPs
ACRA continues to improve the transparency of beneficial ownership of companies and LLPs, and reduce opportunities for the misuse of corporate entities for illicit purposes. The proposed amendments are to:
These measures are part of the ongoing efforts to maintain Singapore’s strong reputation as a trusted financial hub and are in line with international standards for combating money laundering, terrorism financing and other threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
Streamlining and clarifying processes
Other proposed amendments to the CA and other ACRA-administered legislation aim to clarify and update regulatory requirements, and they include, to:
Reference materials
The following materials are available on the ACRA website www.acra.gov.sg: