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A corporate service provider sells the back-office work of running a company: incorporation, company secretary, registered office, nominee directors, registers, filings and often accounts. Singapore regulates the trade. Before you pay a firm, you can verify that it is registered.
We are SingaporeCompanySetupGuide.com, an independent guide. We are not ACRA and not a CSP. Requests sent from this page go to providers that look suitable, and some of those providers pay us a referral fee if you become a client.
What is a corporate service provider?
ACRA uses the term for a business that provides corporate services in and from Singapore. In everyday use that means the firm that incorporates your company, acts as its secretary, hosts its registered office and files your annual return. Before the new law, filing agents were known as registered filing agents. They now sit under the CSP framework, which ACRA describes on its transition pages for existing filing agents and qualified individuals.
Are corporate service providers regulated in Singapore?
Yes. The Corporate Service Providers Act took effect on (ACRA, checked ). All business entities that provide corporate services by way of business in and from Singapore must register with ACRA. Firms that had not registered yet had a 6-month period until .
Registered CSPs must follow:
- Anti-money laundering rules.
- Countering the financing of terrorism rules.
- Countering proliferation financing rules.
A CSP that breaches these duties can be fined up to S$100,000 for each breach. Senior management who fail to make the firm comply face the same fine.
How do I check a CSP is registered?
- Get the firm's full legal name and its UEN.
- Search the ACRA CSP register on acra.gov.sg.
- Confirm the name matches the contract and the invoice.
- Ask the firm directly for its registration status if the name is not on the register.
Our UEN search guide shows how to look up a firm's UEN. Do not accept "we are partners with a registered firm" as proof. The firm that holds your money and files your documents is the one that must be registered.
What does a corporate service provider cost?
ACRA does not publish fees. Firms set their own, and bundles hide the difference. One published example, read on the provider's page in :
| Item | Leftright Corporate |
|---|---|
| Essential company secretary plan | S$328 per year |
| Suite plan | S$568 per year |
| ACRA annual return fee included | S$60 |
| Registered office address | S$245 per year, billed separately |
| Nominee director | Quoted on request |
Another firm may charge a lower secretary price and bill the annual return, the address or each resolution on top. Compare totals, not headline rates. The details behind secretary plans are on our corporate secretary page.
What should I ask before hiring one?
- Is the firm on the ACRA CSP register under the exact name in the contract?
- Which named people will act as your secretary and, if you use one, your nominee director?
- What is the written scope, and what costs extra?
- What is the renewal price in the second year?
- How do I leave, and how fast do registers and files come back to me?
- Who gets copies of ACRA letters at the registered address?
If a nominee director is part of the deal, ask how the firm vets you. ACRA's CSP rules require firms to vet nominee directors, and a firm that asks nothing of you is a warning sign.
Do I need a CSP at all?
No law says a company must hire one. Your own directors can file with ACRA through Bizfile. In practice, a foreign-owned company with no resident director needs a firm for the secretary role, the address and the local director. See our Bizfile guide for how filings work if you do it yourself.
Many firms also run accounts. See accounting services for how to judge that part of the bundle.
Ready to compare? Send the quote form on this page and we will pass it to registered providers that handle your company type.
Where can I see the prices side by side?
Before you choose, see the Singapore company setup price comparison: published prices, Google rating and review count for 34 firms in one table.
Sources
- ACRA: overview of managing as a corporate service provider: CSP Act date, regulations.
- ACRA: Corporate Service Providers Act: registration duty, transition period, AML duties and fines.
- Leftright Corporate: company secretary services: published plan prices, read .
