Singapore has tightened the rules around nominee directors and shareholders, and 2026 is the year the changes bite. The headline shift: whether a director or shareholder is acting as a nominee is now visible to anyone on the company's public profile. If you hold or direct a Singapore company, this is worth understanding — not least because it changes how an arrangement that used to be quiet now looks from the outside.
Nominee status is now public
Since 16 June 2025, the fact that a director or shareholder is acting in a nominee capacity is flagged on the company's public Business Profile on ACRA's BizFile system. Anyone pulling the profile can see that a nominee arrangement exists. The identity of the person behind it — the nominator — stays restricted to law enforcement, but the existence of the arrangement no longer does.
Two new central registers
Under amendments effective 16 June 2025, Singapore companies and registered foreign companies must now maintain, and lodge with ACRA, a Register of Nominee Directors (ROND) and a Register of Nominee Shareholders (RONS). These sit alongside the existing Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC). The RORC and the full nominee details remain accessible only to authorities; it is the nominee flag, not the underlying data, that is public. Changes must be filed to ACRA's central register within a short window — generally two business days.
The CSP Act: no more informal nominees
The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024, in force since 9 June 2025, closed the door on casual nominee arrangements. Anyone acting as a nominee director "by way of business" must now do so through an ACRA-registered corporate service provider, and that provider must run a proper fit-and-proper assessment and keep a Registered Qualified Individual on staff. An individual who arranges nominee director appointments outside a registered CSP can face a fine of up to S$10,000, and a CSP that places a nominee without adequate vetting can face up to S$100,000.
Penalties have risen sharply
The cost of getting the registers wrong went up materially. The maximum penalty for failures relating to the RORC, ROND and RONS rose from S$5,000 to S$25,000 per breach. Beyond fines, ACRA can strike off companies that repeatedly fail to keep accurate records. And a nominee director carries the same fiduciary duties and personal liability as any other director — lending a name is no longer a passive act.
What this means for you
The direction is unmistakable: Singapore remains an excellent place to build a real business, but it is no longer a place to be a name on a page. For legitimate companies the practical task is straightforward — identify any nominee relationships accurately, file the ROND, RONS and RORC on time, and make sure your corporate service provider is properly registered under the CSP Act. The exposure now lies in stale or inaccurate records, not in the structure itself.
How GERAI helps
GERAI provides Singapore company registration and ongoing statutory compliance — keeping your controllers and nominee registers accurate and filed on time, and your entity in good standing. See our Singapore jurisdiction page for the full picture, and our guide to Singapore beneficial ownership in 2026 for the related regime. We work on a compliance-first basis: GERAI does not provide nominee director or shareholder services, or company secretary services, and does not give tax advice.
For the official position, see the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).
Related reading: Hong Kong jurisdiction · BVI jurisdiction · Cayman jurisdiction
This article is general information about regulatory developments, not legal or tax advice. Figures, fees and deadlines change and vary by entity type — confirm your own position with us or a qualified adviser before acting.