Who must register as a CSP in Singapore? (2026)

Who has to register as a CSP in Singapore?

You must register with ACRA as a Corporate Service Provider (CSP) if you carry on a business of providing corporate services in or from Singapore. Under the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024, in force since 9 June 2025, this is a legal requirement — not an optional accreditation.

The deciding factor is whether you provide the service by way of business to other persons. A company secretary employed in-house by a single company they serve is not a CSP; a firm offering secretarial, incorporation or registered-office services to clients is.

Which corporate services trigger registration?

The Act defines “corporate services” broadly. Providing any of the following to others by way of business brings you within the CSP regime:

• Company formation — forming corporations or other legal entities on behalf of other persons.
• Directors and secretaries — acting as, or arranging for someone to act as, a director or secretary of a company.
• Nominee shareholders — acting as, or arranging for someone to act as, a nominee shareholder.
• Registered office / address — providing a registered office, business address or correspondence address for others.
• ACRA transactions — carrying out transactions or filings with ACRA on behalf of other persons.

Do accounting, law and secretarial firms need to register?

Yes, if they provide the corporate services above by way of business. An accounting firm that incorporates companies or files annual returns for clients, a corporate-secretarial firm, or any provider offering registered-office addresses all fall within scope and must register.

Being a member of a professional body does not exempt a firm from CSP registration. The test is functional: are you providing a covered corporate service to others as a business? If yes, you register.

Who does not need to register?

The regime targets those who provide corporate services to others as a business. You generally do not register merely because you:

• Act as an in-house company secretary or director for your own group of companies, not as a service to external clients.
• Are an individual director of your own company (as opposed to acting as a director by way of business for others).
• Do not provide any of the defined corporate services to third parties.

What happens if you provide corporate services without registering?

Providing corporate services by way of business without being a registered CSP is an offence. It is widely reported by law-firm briefings that, on conviction, it can attract a fine of up to S$50,000, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both, with additional daily fines for a continuing offence. Confirm the exact penalties against the CSP Act as enacted before relying on them.

Beyond penalties, an unregistered provider cannot lawfully arrange nominee directors or hold itself out as a CSP, which effectively locks it out of core corporate-secretarial work.

How do you register, and what comes next?

Registration is done with ACRA. As part of qualifying, a CSP must designate at least one Registered Qualified Individual (RQI) and be ready to meet its AML/CFT/PF obligations from day one.

Once registered, the ongoing duties begin: customer due diligence, screening, risk assessment, ≥5-year record-keeping, suspicious transaction reporting, and fit-and-proper checks on any nominee directors. Start with the CSP Act 2024 pillar guide.