If you incorporate a company in Singapore, file with ACRA through an agent, use a registered office address, or appoint a nominee director, you are relying on a corporate service provider — and since 9 June 2025 that provider must be registered with ACRA. The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 made “corporate services” a licensed activity. This is the working version of what we tell clients about why that registration matters and how to check it before you sign.

What the Corporate Service Providers (CSP) Act 2024 is

The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 is the Singapore law that requires anyone providing prescribed corporate services by way of business to register with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) as a registered corporate service provider. It was passed by Parliament on 2 July 2024 and commenced on 9 June 2025 — those are two different dates, and it is the 9 June 2025 commencement that made registration a legal requirement.

In plain terms: providing services such as incorporation, corporate secretarial support, registered office addresses, and ACRA filings is no longer something any administrator can do casually. The provider must be on ACRA’s register, and that registration carries ongoing obligations the provider must meet to keep it.

Why Singapore introduced it: closing the AML/CFT/PF gap

Singapore introduced the CSP Act 2024 to strengthen anti-money-laundering, countering-the-financing-of-terrorism and counter-proliferation-financing (AML/CFT/PF) controls across the corporate-services sector. Corporate structures — shell companies, nominee arrangements, layered ownership — can be misused to hide illicit money, and the people who set up and service those structures are a natural control point.

The old regime only captured filing agents. The Act extends AML/CFT/PF obligations to all providers of prescribed corporate services, closing the gap that previously let some service providers operate outside those duties. For a client, the practical effect is that a registered CSP is legally obliged to know who you are, verify your beneficial owners, and refuse arrangements that do not add up.

From “registered filing agent” to “registered CSP”: what changed on 9 June 2025

On 9 June 2025 the “registered filing agent (RFA)” regime was replaced by the “registered corporate service provider (CSP)” regime. The label changed, the scope widened, and the transition was handled as follows:

• Existing RFAs were automatically deemed to be registered CSPs — no new application, no new fee — retaining the same validity period as their RFA registration.
• Other persons providing prescribed corporate services who were not already RFAs had to register as CSPs within six months of commencement, i.e. by 9 December 2025.

CSP registration runs for a two-year term. Indicative fees are S$400 per two years for a CSP and S$200 per two years for a registered qualified individual (RQI), replacing the former annual RFA/RQI fees. Treat the exact figures as indicative and confirm against ACRA’s current fee schedule before relying on them.

What CSP registration actually means for you as a client

For a client, CSP registration is a baseline test of whether a provider is even legally allowed to do the work. A provider acting as a CSP without registration commits an offence carrying a fine of up to S$50,000 or up to 2 years’ imprisonment (plus up to S$2,500 per day for a continuing offence). Registered CSPs and their senior management also face fines of up to S$100,000 per breach of AML/CFT/PF obligations.

What this buys you: a provider that is accountable to a regulator, subject to fit-and-proper standards, and required to keep proper records. If you appoint an unregistered provider, you are not just taking a quality risk — you are relying on someone operating unlawfully, and your corporate records sit with them.

The six corporate services that must run through a registered CSP

ACRA prescribes six corporate services that trigger CSP registration. If you use any of them by way of business, the provider must be a registered CSP:

1. Forming or registering business entities (incorporation).
2. Providing a registered office, business, correspondence or virtual office address.
3. Acting as — or arranging for others to act as — director, secretary or partner.
4. Acting as or arranging nominee shareholders (excluding listed companies).
5. Designated accounting services for certain transactions.
6. Filing transactions with ACRA on behalf of others.

Most growing companies touch several of these at once — which is precisely why the provider you choose matters.

Why it matters: your ACRA filings and nominee-director arrangements run through your CSP

It matters because your statutory filings and any nominee-director arrangement legally flow through your CSP — so the provider’s standing is your exposure, not just theirs. Your annual returns, director and shareholder changes, and registered-office records are lodged with ACRA by your CSP. If that provider loses its registration, you need a clean handover, fast.

Nominee directorships are the sharpest example. Under the CSP Act 2024, a person is prohibited from acting as a nominee director by way of business unless the appointment is arranged by a registered CSP and the person has been assessed as fit and proper by that CSP. Nominee status and the nominator’s identity must be disclosed to ACRA. If you use a nominee director arrangement, it must run through a registered CSP — full stop. See our guide to nominee directors in Singapore for how this works in practice.

ACRA enforcement in 2026: what the public register shows

ACRA enforces the CSP Act 2024 and publishes the results — suspensions and cancellations appear on a public register that anyone can check. Stated neutrally as public-register facts:

The same register records other CSP Act cancellations — for example, JVKM Business Solutions Pte. Ltd. (201705687R), cancelled 29 August 2025 under s.18(1)(b). The point for clients is not the individual cases but the principle: enforcement is real, public and ongoing, and a provider’s standing can change. The register is the primary place to check it.

How to check your provider is a registered CSP in good standing

You can verify any provider’s CSP standing for free on ACRA’s Bizfile, and you should do it before you appoint — and periodically afterwards. Two checks:

1. Confirm registration. Search the entity name on ACRA’s Bizfile entity search, open “More information” on its profile, and the CSP information appears at the bottom of the entity profile. Advanced filters include a “Corporate service provider number”, “Entity type” and “Entity status”.
2. Confirm good standing. Check the provider does not appear on ACRA’s public list of suspended or cancelled CSPs and RQIs, which is updated regularly.

If a provider cannot be found as a registered CSP, or appears on the suspended/cancelled list, treat that as a stop sign.

Questions to ask before you appoint a corporate service provider

Before appointing a provider, ask five questions that test both registration and competence:

• Are you a registered CSP, and what is your CSP / entity name on Bizfile? So you can verify it yourself.
• Who is the named registered qualified individual responsible for our matters?
• What are your AML/CFT onboarding requirements? A compliant CSP will ask for identity and beneficial-ownership documents — that is a good sign, not friction.
• If you arrange a nominee director, how do you assess fitness and propriety, and how is the arrangement disclosed to ACRA?
• What happens to our records and filings if we leave or if your registration lapses?

Asprin is a registered CSP

Asprin is a registered corporate service provider, so the incorporation, corporate secretarial and registered-office services we provide all sit within the CSP Act 2024 framework. You do not have to take that on trust — you can independently confirm our CSP standing on ACRA’s Bizfile register using the entity-search method above. If you would like the exact entity name to search, or want us to walk you through verifying any provider, our team is happy to help. See our corporate secretarial services for what a registered-CSP retainer covers.

Sources and further reading

• ACRA — Corporate Service Providers Act (legislation page)
• ACRA — CSP Bill and related amendments (legislative reform)
• ACRA — Transitioning to the CSP Act: existing RFAs and RQIs
• ACRA — CSPs: who needs to register
• ACRA — Suspended and cancelled CSP / RQI registrations
• ACRA — Using Bizfile’s search functions
• Asprin — Corporate secretarial services and nominee director guide