Acra to introduce penalties on service providers, restrictions on directors next year

THE Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) plans to table several proposals in Parliament in early 2024 to strengthen Singapore’s anti-money laundering regime, said Second Minister for National Development Indranee Rajah.

These include enhancing the penalties on errant corporate service providers, and putting restrictions on directorships, such as limiting the number of nominee directorships one can hold, Indranee said.

Indranee was delivering the final of three ministerial statements addressing Singapore’s largest money laundering probe in Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 3).

Indranee said Acra is investigating the role played by the registered filing agents involved in the case and will take enforcement action if necessary.

Non-residents who are looking to set up companies in Singapore must engage Acra-authorised corporate services providers, also known as registered filing agents, to incorporate a company.

Since 2021, Acra has imposed 24 sanctions against registered filing agents. In eight of these cases, the agents’ registrations were cancelled or suspended.

Acra has also been studying restrictions on directorships to ensure nominee directors are fit and proper to take up the role, she added.

In response to a parliamentary question on the number of individuals who held many directorships, Indranee said 99 per cent of directors hold fewer than 10 directorships.

There are currently no limits to the number of companies that a director can be involved in, in line with international benchmarks, she said.

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It was previously reported that a Singapore resident was listed as director, secretary and shareholder of 185 companies here, several of which were linked to some of the money laundering suspects arrested.

Proposals for both the additional measures for errant service providers and restrictions on directorships had been put out for public consultation in 2022, Indranee said.