Open a Singapore company in 10 days – for the founders Singapore fits.
We register the company, arrange the resident director, solve banking, maintain compliance, and tell you upfront if Singapore is the right answer for your case. For difficult passports and Singapore’s stricter banking, we work the route most providers can’t open.
When Singapore wins
Three reasons Singapore is the right call
Singapore’s closest competitor is Hong Kong. Singapore wins on three specific things.
Venture capital and IP
Venture funds recognise Singapore as the natural holding-company jurisdiction for an Asia-focused startup. The legal system and IP enforcement line up with what investors expect, down to the term-sheet vocabulary. If you are raising – or planning to raise – Singapore is built for it.
ASEAN and India trade
Singapore sits at the centre of Southeast Asia’s trade infrastructure: DTAs with Indonesia, India and Vietnam, plus the banking network for regional payments and the fintech rails for collecting from local buyers. When your customers or suppliers are in ASEAN or India, Singapore is the closer base.
Residency and relocation
Singapore is built for founders who plan to move and run the company from the ground. The Employment Pass route turns you into the resident director yourself – which removes the nominee dependency and opens tax-efficient personal residency.
What’s included
The legal minimum – plus what makes it run
A Singapore private limited company is the corporate entity plus a set of Singapore-resident roles that have to be filled before the company can legally exist. The package covers all of them for the first year.
ACRA registration filings
Everything the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority needs to bring the company into legal existence.
- Name reservation filed with ACRA via BizFile+
- Constitution drafted in the form a registrar will accept
- Incorporation application filed with ACRA
- Government fees to ACRA – included
- Business activity codes (SSIC) chosen to support banking and future licences
- Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) lodged on the incorporation date
Certificates and corporate identity
The corporate identity documents the company needs to operate and to satisfy bank KYC.
- Certificate of Incorporation with UEN (Unique Entity Number)
- Business Profile downloaded from ACRA BizFile+
- Constitution – final filed version
- Share certificates issued to each subscriber
- Digital copies for bank applications, physical originals couriered to your address
Year-1 resident director
Singapore law requires at least one director ordinarily resident in Singapore. We arrange a nominee resident director through a licensed Corporate Service Provider – the only legal route since the 2025 disclosure rules. The nominee is on the register but does not make business decisions.
- Nominee resident director
- Nominee arrangement disclosed on the ACRA central nominee register
- Where the bank requires it – nominee participation in bank account opening
- Handover path documented if you obtain an Employment Pass and become the resident director yourself
Year-1 company secretary and registered office
The two remaining Singapore-resident roles every Pte Ltd needs in place from day one.
- Company secretary appointed on the incorporation date (statutory deadline is 6 months)
- Statutory register maintenance – members, directors, secretaries, beneficial owners
- Annual General Meeting and Annual Return filing reminders
- Registered office address in Singapore on file with ACRA
- Reception of government correspondence and IRAS notices
The main difference
A resident director
A Singapore Pte Ltd cannot legally exist without a Singapore-resident director. Foreign founders have three routes:
- an Employment Pass that makes the founder themselves the resident director,
- a local co-founder,
- or a nominee director arranged through a licensed CSP – the most common at incorporation, typically S$2,000–6,000 a year.
For corporate banking, the nominee’s involvement is the operational consequence. Traditional Singapore banks (DBS, OCBC, UOB) usually require the nominee director to attend account opening. Without that, the realistic path is a fintech provider. On the call we discuss whether and when a traditional or fintech account makes sense for your case.
How we work
One team for everything you need in Singapore
Four steps. The first one is the one most providers skip and most founders later wish they hadn’t.
We map your banking and your jurisdiction fit
A 30-minute strategy call with Roman and the USG team. We walk through your business model, your passport situation, what you’re trying to build, and where your money has to move. We confirm Singapore is the right call for your case – or tell you if there are better options.
Document preparation and the resident director
You provide the documents and complete the forms. We draft the Constitution and choose the SSIC codes, then offer you the nominee director options.
Filing with ACRA
We file the incorporation through BizFile+. ACRA processes most applications in one to three business days. Higher-risk profiles may undergo Enhanced Due Diligence – we anticipate this and prepare the case ahead of time so the application doesn’t stall.
Company is open
You receive the Certificate of Incorporation with your UEN. Constitution, share certificates, RORC, and statutory registers are set up. Year-1 resident director, company secretary, and registered office go live the same day. The banking team takes the handoff and starts on the account.
Common questions
What founders ask before they sign up
If your question isn’t here, book a call – we’ll discuss your case in detail.
Do I really need a Singapore-resident director?
Yes. Singapore law requires at least one director ordinarily resident in Singapore – a citizen, permanent resident, or holder of an Employment Pass or EntrePass. There is no workaround. Foreign founders have three routes: arrange a nominee resident director through a licensed CSP, obtain an Employment Pass and become the resident director yourself, or find a local co-founder who genuinely participates in the business.
Singapore or Hong Kong – how do I choose?
Hong Kong slightly wins for most cases: faster to set up, cheaper to maintain, and no resident director requirement (which is the most significant difference). We default to Hong Kong unless one of three things matters to your business: you are raising venture capital and need a recognised holding-company jurisdiction, you are running serious trade with ASEAN or India where Singapore’s DTA network and banking access change the economics, or you intend to relocate and run the company from Singapore on the ground.
On the call we walk through your specifics and tell you upfront which jurisdiction is the right call for your case.
What does the nominee director do – and what don’t they?
The nominee sits on the register as a Singapore-resident director and satisfies the statutory requirement. They sign formal documents that require a Singapore-resident director’s signature and confirm to the CSP that the company is operating in line with the agreed business activity.
There are two tiers of nominee service. The minimal tier covers the statutory role only – the nominee does not participate in bank account opening. With this tier, a corporate account is realistic only through a fintech provider. The standard tier also joins the bank account opening process when the bank requires it – traditional banks (DBS, OCBC, UOB) generally do.
The nominee is a legal-existence role, not a management one. What the nominee does not do: make business decisions, sign commercial contracts, hold bank account signing or payment rights, or speak for the company commercially. All of that stays with you.
Do I need to fly to Singapore for the incorporation?
No. ACRA filing is entirely remote – you sign electronically through the CSP, the documents go to ACRA via BizFile+, and the Certificate of Incorporation and Business Profile are delivered digitally. Physical copies of the Constitution and share certificates are couriered if you want them.
Travel becomes relevant only for two things: the bank account (case by case, depending on the bank and your passport), and the Employment Pass interview if you choose to relocate and become the resident director yourself.
Book a free call
You explain your business model and your passport situation. We tell you whether Singapore is the right call for you, and what the resident director and banking paths look like.
Book a free 30-minute call