The Ministry of Finance and the Accounting and
Corporate Regulatory Authority have proposed law amendments to
lessen the regulatory burden on businesses.
Changes to the Companies Act and Limited Liability
Partnerships Act were proposed on Tuesday (Dec 27) to simplify the
requirements to hold annual general meetings and file annual
returns.
"Listed companies and non-listed companies should hold
their AGMs no later than the last day of the fourth month or sixth
month after financial year end, respectively," an official
statement by the MOF and Acra said.
Furthermore, all private companies will be exempted
from holding AGMs, subject to specific safeguards. The legal
requirement for companies and limited liability partnerships to use
common seals will also be removed.
These proposed amendments have been tabled for a public
consultation, beginning on Tuesday and ending on Jan 13, 2017. They
follow an earlier round of Companies Act public consultation in
October.
Alongside the proposals to improve the ease of
business, other changes are looked at to improve business sector
transparency.
These include a requirement for LLPs incorporated or
registered in Singapore to maintain registers of beneficial owners
at prescribed places, such as the company's registered office.
Liquidator will be asked to retain records of wound up
companies and LLPs for five years instead of two, while the options
to destroy early if companies and LLPs are wound up will be
removed.
Meanwhile, the Accountants Act will be amended to
clarify that a breach of the Ethics Pronouncement 200 - which sets
out mandatory requirements against money laundering and terrorism
financing - will be grounds for disciplinary action.
"(These changes) will boost Singapore's ongoing efforts
to maintain our high corporate governance standards and strong
reputation as a trusted and clean financial hub," the MOF and the
Acra noted.
ST