Nominee director services · Singapore
Nominee director services in Singapore
Singapore law requires every company to have a resident director. We provide one, so you can incorporate and stay compliant while keeping full ownership and control of your business.
ACRA-registered Corporate Service ProviderFA20250143
Overview
Why your company needs a resident director
Under Section 145 of the Companies Act, every Singapore company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore at all times. That means a citizen, a permanent resident, or a pass holder living here. ACRA will not incorporate a company without one, and an existing company that loses its only local director is immediately in breach.
If you live abroad and do not yet hold an Employment Pass, you cannot meet this on your own. A nominee director fills the role so your company is compliant, and once your own pass is approved you can step in as the resident director yourself.
The role
What a nominee director does, and does not, do
A nominee director is a Singapore resident named on your board to satisfy the residency requirement. The role is non-executive, which means a clear line between meeting the law and running the company:
- What they do. Sit on the board in name to meet Section 145, act as the local point of contact on record with ACRA, and let the company incorporate and stay compliant.
- What they do not do. They take no part in your strategy, operations, banking, hiring, or spending. You keep full ownership as shareholder and full control of the business.
It is a legal, widely used arrangement for foreign founders, and most companies use it only until their own Employment Pass comes through.
What we provide
What our nominee director service includes
The resident director the law requires, arranged the way the rules now demand.
A resident director
A qualified Singapore-resident individual appointed to your board to meet the Section 145 requirement.
You keep control
You stay the owner and decision-maker. The nominee has no say in operations, banking, or strategy.
Protective documents
A service agreement, a deed of indemnity, and an undated resignation letter, so both sides are protected.
Arranged through a registered CSP
We are an ACRA-registered corporate service provider, and make the appointment the way the 2025 rules require.
Register and ACRA filings
We maintain the nominee register and lodge the particulars with ACRA within the required time.
Transition when your pass is ready
Once your Employment Pass is approved, we step the nominee off and you take over as the resident director.
Common questions
Singapore nominee director FAQs
Specific questions about the resident director requirement and how the nominee arrangement works in Singapore.
Is a nominee director legal in Singapore?
Yes. Section 145 of the Companies Act requires the resident director, and the nominee arrangement is the standard way foreign founders meet it before their own Employment Pass is approved. From 2025, the nominee director has to be arranged through an ACRA-registered Corporate Service Provider, and we are one — license FA20250143.
Do I lose control of my company if I appoint a nominee director?
No. You stay the shareholder, which means you own the company and you appoint and remove directors. The nominee sits on the board in a non-executive role to satisfy residency, and the service agreement and deed of indemnity make explicit that they take no part in operations, banking, hiring, or spending. The undated resignation letter is held on file so you can step them off the board at any time.
What protections do I get?
Three documents. A service agreement defining the scope of the nominee role and what they will and will not do. A deed of indemnity protecting the nominee against personal liability for company actions they had no part in. An undated resignation letter signed by the nominee, held on file, so the appointment can be ended at any time. All three are standard for foreign-founder nominee arrangements.
How quickly can the nominee director be appointed?
For a new incorporation, the nominee is named at incorporation and goes on the ACRA filing alongside the rest of the company particulars — same day, no extra step. For an existing company that needs a nominee added (a leaving director, a lost pass), the appointment is a same-day filing with ACRA once the documents are signed.
What does a nominee director cost?
Our nominee service is an annual fixed fee that covers the named director, the service agreement and indemnity, the nominee register, and routine ACRA correspondence. Larger transactions where the nominee has to sign — opening a bank account, certain regulator filings — may carry a small per-event fee, which we quote when they come up.
When can I step in as my own resident director?
Once your Employment Pass is approved and issued. At that point we file the change of director with ACRA — you are appointed, the nominee is stepped off, the resignation letter is dated and lodged — and from that day on you are the resident director the law requires. Most clients run the nominee arrangement for the first six to nine months of the company while the pass is processed.
Does the nominee director sign the bank account?
No, by design. The bank account is opened in the company name with you as the authorised signatory. The nominee is on the board so the bank sees a complete board, but they do not have signing rights and they do not move money. Some banks ask the nominee to attend the account-opening interview alongside you, and we coordinate that when it comes up.
Why does this need a registered CSP now?
From 2025, ACRA requires nominee director appointments to go through a registered Corporate Service Provider, as part of the broader anti-money-laundering tightening. The CSP is responsible for know-your-customer on the company and on the nominee, and for keeping the records that make the arrangement traceable. Anyone arranging a nominee outside this framework is no longer doing it correctly, and the appointment can be challenged.
Need a Singapore resident director?
Talk to our Singapore team
A free, no-obligation consultation: thirty minutes with our Singapore team to walk through your situation, where you are on the Employment Pass, and how the nominee arrangement and the documents around it work for your company.
Phone / WhatsApp+60 17 684 9718
Office105 Cecil Street, #18-08
The Octagon
Singapore 069534
The Octagon
Singapore 069534