Before the incorporation can proceed, there are a few basic requirements to be met:

• Minimum 1 Shareholder, Maximum 50 shareholders
• Minimum 1 Company Secretary
• Minimum 1 Local Director (Singaporean/Permanent Resident)
• Usually Minimum paid-up capital of $1 with Minimum 1 Share
• Company must have a Singapore registered office address
• Desirable Company Name (Must Be Approved by ACRA)

In Singapore, it is necessary to appoint a local resident director in order to proceed with the incorporation. Foreigners who wish to incorporate in Singapore will need to appoint a Singaporean or Permanent Resident in order to proceed with the incorporation.

This holds true for all company structures, including private limited companies and sole proprietors.

If you do not have a local director, you can choose to engage a nominee director service when you incorporate with us.

Click here to read more about Singapore incorporation for Foreigners & Nominee Director Services.

In order to protect all the members of the company, it is the duty of the company secretary to ensure that all the documents are in order and properly kept inside the company’s minute book. At least one original signed copy of the company documents should always be kept inside the company minute book in order to ensure that all company documents remain well-maintained, recognized and legally binding to avoid any possible disputes.

At the same time, it is also the corporate secretary’s role to provide clear and proper advice to the members of the company on their queries related to their company structure and filings.

Click here to read more about the role and responsibilities of a Corporate Secretary.

As many of our clients know, at Lionsworld, we do not accept electronic signatures or digital signatures.

The reason is simple: Currently, the only form of digital signature legally recognized in Singapore is your SingPass. Unfortunately, as SingPass is used exclusively for government operations, private companies are currently unable to utilize SingPass for their own functions.

As such, there is no legally recognized means of digital/electronic signature in Singapore at the moment.

In order to ensure that a document is to be recognized and binding via a signature, one must still provide an original, hard copy signature of the document. Certain documents, such as incorporation documents, change in directorship and shareholding of a company, must even be notarized and/or properly witnessed in order to ensure that the signature is original and to ensure that the person signing the document meets the legal requirements of identity.

If there is any dispute raised, electronically signed documents will not be recognized under Singapore’s law.

Click here to read more about Electronic Signatures in Singapore.