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The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024: New AML/CFT Obligations Explained

Since June 2025, firms that provide company incorporation, secretarial, or nominee services in Singapore operate under a materially stricter AML/CFT regime than before — one that replaced the older Registered Filing Agents framework entirely.

By Numisora Solutions Pte Ltd · Published 6 September 2026 · Last checked 6 September 2026

What changed, and when

The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024, together with the Corporate Service Providers Regulations 2025, came into force on 9 June 2025. It sits alongside the Companies Act 1967 and extends Singapore's AML/CFT/CPF (anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and countering proliferation financing) framework to a broader range of corporate service activities than the previous Registered Filing Agents regime covered.

Who must register

Under the Act, a corporate service provider (CSP) is broadly any person carrying on a business of providing designated services in Singapore, including incorporating companies, acting as or arranging for someone to act as a director, secretary, or nominee, and creating or managing legal persons or arrangements. This can capture accounting firms once they carry out ACRA transactions on a client's behalf, not only dedicated secretarial firms. Only ACRA-registered CSPs may lawfully provide these services, and ACRA maintains a public register so clients can verify a provider's standing.

What registered CSPs must do

Registered CSPs must carry out Customer Due Diligence (CDD) before providing a designated service and before lodging a transaction with ACRA on a customer's behalf, with Enhanced Due Diligence required for higher-risk customers such as politically exposed persons. Where CDD cannot be completed, the CSP must decline the engagement and consider whether a Suspicious Transaction Report is warranted. CDD and related records must be kept for at least five years after an engagement ends. Each CSP must appoint a senior, suitably qualified individual responsible for AML/CFT compliance, and maintain a documented risk assessment and internal AML/CFT policies and procedures.

Nominee arrangements

The regulations also introduced a specific disclosure requirement for nominee directors and nominee shareholders: both the nominee's status and the identity of the person who appointed them (the nominator) must now be disclosed to ACRA — intended to prevent nominee arrangements being used to obscure who actually controls a company.

This whitepaper summarises publicly available guidance on the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 and CSP Regulations 2025 as at the checked date above. It is not legal advice. Suspicious Transaction Reporting obligations in particular are a legal-compliance matter that should be confirmed with qualified counsel and your firm's compliance officer, not decided from this summary alone.

Sources

  1. Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 (Singapore Statutes Online)
  2. Corporate Service Providers Regulations 2025 (S 292/2025)
  3. ACRA — Guidelines for Registered Corporate Service Providers, acra.gov.sg

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