In 2025, Singapore’s regulatory landscape for family offices is defined by several substantive legislative reforms affecting licensing, tax, and compliance procedures. These changes, initiated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), are a direct response to recent enforcement incidents, international tax agreements, and the need to maintain Singapore’s credibility as a global wealth hub.
While the new frameworks undoubtedly increase compliance and reporting burdens for SFOs—especially in the areas of AML/CFT, tax, and nominee governance—they also provide much-needed clarity and stability for long-term planning. Family offices willing to adapt will continue to find Singapore a compelling, stable, and globally competitive jurisdiction in which to base their operations.
While the new frameworks undoubtedly increase compliance and reporting burdens for SFOs—especially in the areas of AML/CFT, tax, and nominee governance—they also provide much-needed clarity and stability for long-term planning. Family offices willing to adapt will continue to find Singapore a compelling, stable, and globally competitive jurisdiction in which to base their operations.
The New Regulatory Landscape: MAS Finalises the SFO Framework
After several years of rapid growth in the family office sector, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has moved to provide greater clarity and oversight. In January 2025, MAS published its long-anticipated framework for Single-Family Offices (SFOs), building on proposals from the July 2023 consultation and responding to industry feedback.
Under the new rules, SFOs are now required to open accounts with MAS-regulated banks, or—if the SFO is a foreign vehicle—with an equivalent bank in a jurisdiction compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. This replaces the previously informal approach, which often saw SFOs using international structures and unregulated intermediaries. The framework also mandates much tighter alignment with Singapore’s anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) protocols. SFOs must perform due diligence on clients, maintain clear records of beneficial ownership, and ensure that their structures remain transparent and family-controlled, with only minor allowances for non-family executive ownership.
The response from MAS—along with increased scrutiny from banks—means that SFOs in 2025 face a new era of regulatory clarity, but also a substantially higher compliance burden.
The Corporate Service Providers Act: Raising the Bar for Nominee Structures
Another major legislative development in 2025 is the coming into force of the Corporate Service Providers (CSP) Act, administered by ACRA. Effective from 9 June 2025, the Act requires all corporate service providers—including those offering nominee-director arrangements widely used by SFOs—to register with ACRA and meet new “fit and proper” standards for directors and management.
More importantly, the CSP Act brings such service providers under the same strict AML/CFT regulatory regime as financial institutions. Providers must implement robust due diligence, keep comprehensive records, and face potentially severe penalties for non-compliance (fines up to SGD 100,000). For family offices, this introduces a new layer of administrative oversight and makes the use of nominee structures more transparent and auditable than ever before.
Tax Incentive Regimes: Adjustments and Extensions to Section 13O/13U/13OA
Singapore’s tax exemption schemes have long been a magnet for family offices, but recent reforms have aimed to ensure that such structures have real economic substance. As of 2025, the popular Section 13O and 13U schemes (and the new 13OA for limited partnerships) have been extended to the end of 2029, but with revised requirements. The calculation of assets under management (AUM) now focuses solely on Designated Investments at year-end—clarifying earlier ambiguities. Minimum AUM thresholds remain at S$5 million (13O) and S$50 million (13U), but the government has introduced new tiers for local business spending, ranging from S$200,000 to S$500,000 per year, depending on AUM size.
A subtle but meaningful change is the removal of the requirement for MAS pre-approval when making significant changes to fund strategy; now, only notification is required. For close-ended funds, there is a one-time waiver available for both AUM and local spending requirements, provided certain criteria are met. These changes, while tightening some operational requirements, ultimately offer family offices greater flexibility in how they structure their investment entities.
The Impact of BEPS 2.0 and Transfer Pricing Reform
A global push for tax transparency has also made itself felt in Singapore, as the country implements the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) 2.0 framework. As of January 2025, new rules ensure a minimum effective tax rate of 15% for multinational groups, including those with Singapore-based family offices. Related-party (intra-group) loans must now be at arm’s length, with IRAS explicitly ending the use of interest-free loans for tax minimization.
For SFOs with international holdings or complex group structures, this marks a significant shift. The new rules require self-assessment and regular reporting (the GloBE Information Return) to IRAS, as well as careful attention to domestic top-up taxes under the new Income Inclusion Rule. While Singapore has built in several safe harbours and transition mechanisms, the compliance and reporting load for cross-border family offices is clearly increasing.
Capital Market Reforms: Opportunities for Family Office Ventures
The year 2025 marks a watershed moment for Singapore’s capital markets, with reforms that directly reshape the environment for family offices as both investors and potential capital raisers.
In May 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) launched a comprehensive public consultation on regulatory reforms aimed at revitalizing the country’s equities market. (MAS Consultation Paper; SGX RegCo Announcement). These proposals respond to declining IPO activity, global competition for high-growth listings, and explicit feedback from major family offices and private capital providers operating in Asia.
Key components of the proposed reforms include:
1.Flexible Pre-IPO Investor Engagement:
The proposed rules would allow issuers—including family office-sponsored investment vehicles and holding companies—to engage with a wider range of institutional and strategic investors before the IPO process formally begins. This pre-marketing regime is designed to facilitate cornerstone investments and strategic partnerships, reducing execution risk and potentially improving post-listing liquidity. For family offices, this represents an opportunity to participate in curated pre-IPO rounds, negotiate more favorable terms, or secure anchor positions in promising new listings.
2.Streamlined Prospectus and Disclosure Requirements:
Current prospectus regulations in Singapore are among the most stringent in the region, a fact often cited as a barrier for fast-growing companies considering a public listing. The reform aims to simplify disclosure obligations and reduce redundancies—without compromising investor protection—making it less burdensome for family office–backed companies and portfolio assets to consider an IPO as an exit or expansion strategy.
3.Reduced Profit Thresholds for Mainboard Listings:
A central element of the reform is the proposal to lower the minimum cumulative pre-tax profit required for Mainboard listing from S$30 million to as low as S$10–12 million. This is expected to open the door for a broader universe of high-growth, asset-light businesses—precisely the type of companies in which many family offices specialize as direct investors or co-investors. For family offices seeking liquidity events, this reform may accelerate the timeline to IPO for their portfolio companies.
4.Enhanced Flexibility for Listing Structures:
The reforms envision increased use of alternative listing structures, including dual-class shares and SPACs, offering family offices both more sophisticated investment instruments and new avenues for structuring exits or growth capital raises.
Implications for Family Offices
The significance of these reforms for family offices cannot be overstated. For Singapore-based family offices, the changes lower the barriers to raising public capital and allow for greater influence over the listing process—either as sponsors, lead investors, or cornerstone participants. Importantly, these moves align Singapore’s capital market more closely with those of Hong Kong and the US, making it a more attractive regional base for global family wealth platforms.
At a strategic level, these reforms mean that family offices can not only deploy capital into a wider range of early-stage or high-growth businesses but can also bring their portfolio companies to the public market with greater speed and flexibility. The creation of a more dynamic, less administratively burdensome IPO process could allow family offices to execute on liquidity events in a manner previously only available in more mature capital markets.
For family offices acting as investment sponsors, these changes may enable the formation of special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) and funds specifically structured to take advantage of new listing opportunities, as well as to underwrite and anchor IPOs in sectors where the family office has operational expertise or legacy positions.
Finally, the consultation process itself is notable, as MAS and SGX RegCo have explicitly sought input from family offices and private capital market participants, signaling a recognition of their growing influence in the region’s financial ecosystem.
NB! The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. While we strive to ensure the content is accurate and up-to-date, it should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional consultation. For personalized advice or assistance with legal matters, please contact our specialists directly.
After several years of rapid growth in the family office sector, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has moved to provide greater clarity and oversight. In January 2025, MAS published its long-anticipated framework for Single-Family Offices (SFOs), building on proposals from the July 2023 consultation and responding to industry feedback.
Under the new rules, SFOs are now required to open accounts with MAS-regulated banks, or—if the SFO is a foreign vehicle—with an equivalent bank in a jurisdiction compliant with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. This replaces the previously informal approach, which often saw SFOs using international structures and unregulated intermediaries. The framework also mandates much tighter alignment with Singapore’s anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) protocols. SFOs must perform due diligence on clients, maintain clear records of beneficial ownership, and ensure that their structures remain transparent and family-controlled, with only minor allowances for non-family executive ownership.
The response from MAS—along with increased scrutiny from banks—means that SFOs in 2025 face a new era of regulatory clarity, but also a substantially higher compliance burden.
The Corporate Service Providers Act: Raising the Bar for Nominee Structures
Another major legislative development in 2025 is the coming into force of the Corporate Service Providers (CSP) Act, administered by ACRA. Effective from 9 June 2025, the Act requires all corporate service providers—including those offering nominee-director arrangements widely used by SFOs—to register with ACRA and meet new “fit and proper” standards for directors and management.
More importantly, the CSP Act brings such service providers under the same strict AML/CFT regulatory regime as financial institutions. Providers must implement robust due diligence, keep comprehensive records, and face potentially severe penalties for non-compliance (fines up to SGD 100,000). For family offices, this introduces a new layer of administrative oversight and makes the use of nominee structures more transparent and auditable than ever before.
Tax Incentive Regimes: Adjustments and Extensions to Section 13O/13U/13OA
Singapore’s tax exemption schemes have long been a magnet for family offices, but recent reforms have aimed to ensure that such structures have real economic substance. As of 2025, the popular Section 13O and 13U schemes (and the new 13OA for limited partnerships) have been extended to the end of 2029, but with revised requirements. The calculation of assets under management (AUM) now focuses solely on Designated Investments at year-end—clarifying earlier ambiguities. Minimum AUM thresholds remain at S$5 million (13O) and S$50 million (13U), but the government has introduced new tiers for local business spending, ranging from S$200,000 to S$500,000 per year, depending on AUM size.
A subtle but meaningful change is the removal of the requirement for MAS pre-approval when making significant changes to fund strategy; now, only notification is required. For close-ended funds, there is a one-time waiver available for both AUM and local spending requirements, provided certain criteria are met. These changes, while tightening some operational requirements, ultimately offer family offices greater flexibility in how they structure their investment entities.
The Impact of BEPS 2.0 and Transfer Pricing Reform
A global push for tax transparency has also made itself felt in Singapore, as the country implements the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) 2.0 framework. As of January 2025, new rules ensure a minimum effective tax rate of 15% for multinational groups, including those with Singapore-based family offices. Related-party (intra-group) loans must now be at arm’s length, with IRAS explicitly ending the use of interest-free loans for tax minimization.
For SFOs with international holdings or complex group structures, this marks a significant shift. The new rules require self-assessment and regular reporting (the GloBE Information Return) to IRAS, as well as careful attention to domestic top-up taxes under the new Income Inclusion Rule. While Singapore has built in several safe harbours and transition mechanisms, the compliance and reporting load for cross-border family offices is clearly increasing.
Capital Market Reforms: Opportunities for Family Office Ventures
The year 2025 marks a watershed moment for Singapore’s capital markets, with reforms that directly reshape the environment for family offices as both investors and potential capital raisers.
In May 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) launched a comprehensive public consultation on regulatory reforms aimed at revitalizing the country’s equities market. (MAS Consultation Paper; SGX RegCo Announcement). These proposals respond to declining IPO activity, global competition for high-growth listings, and explicit feedback from major family offices and private capital providers operating in Asia.
Key components of the proposed reforms include:
1.Flexible Pre-IPO Investor Engagement:
The proposed rules would allow issuers—including family office-sponsored investment vehicles and holding companies—to engage with a wider range of institutional and strategic investors before the IPO process formally begins. This pre-marketing regime is designed to facilitate cornerstone investments and strategic partnerships, reducing execution risk and potentially improving post-listing liquidity. For family offices, this represents an opportunity to participate in curated pre-IPO rounds, negotiate more favorable terms, or secure anchor positions in promising new listings.
2.Streamlined Prospectus and Disclosure Requirements:
Current prospectus regulations in Singapore are among the most stringent in the region, a fact often cited as a barrier for fast-growing companies considering a public listing. The reform aims to simplify disclosure obligations and reduce redundancies—without compromising investor protection—making it less burdensome for family office–backed companies and portfolio assets to consider an IPO as an exit or expansion strategy.
3.Reduced Profit Thresholds for Mainboard Listings:
A central element of the reform is the proposal to lower the minimum cumulative pre-tax profit required for Mainboard listing from S$30 million to as low as S$10–12 million. This is expected to open the door for a broader universe of high-growth, asset-light businesses—precisely the type of companies in which many family offices specialize as direct investors or co-investors. For family offices seeking liquidity events, this reform may accelerate the timeline to IPO for their portfolio companies.
4.Enhanced Flexibility for Listing Structures:
The reforms envision increased use of alternative listing structures, including dual-class shares and SPACs, offering family offices both more sophisticated investment instruments and new avenues for structuring exits or growth capital raises.
Implications for Family Offices
The significance of these reforms for family offices cannot be overstated. For Singapore-based family offices, the changes lower the barriers to raising public capital and allow for greater influence over the listing process—either as sponsors, lead investors, or cornerstone participants. Importantly, these moves align Singapore’s capital market more closely with those of Hong Kong and the US, making it a more attractive regional base for global family wealth platforms.
At a strategic level, these reforms mean that family offices can not only deploy capital into a wider range of early-stage or high-growth businesses but can also bring their portfolio companies to the public market with greater speed and flexibility. The creation of a more dynamic, less administratively burdensome IPO process could allow family offices to execute on liquidity events in a manner previously only available in more mature capital markets.
For family offices acting as investment sponsors, these changes may enable the formation of special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) and funds specifically structured to take advantage of new listing opportunities, as well as to underwrite and anchor IPOs in sectors where the family office has operational expertise or legacy positions.
Finally, the consultation process itself is notable, as MAS and SGX RegCo have explicitly sought input from family offices and private capital market participants, signaling a recognition of their growing influence in the region’s financial ecosystem.
NB! The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. While we strive to ensure the content is accurate and up-to-date, it should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional consultation. For personalized advice or assistance with legal matters, please contact our specialists directly.
RSBU Group Expertise
We have extensive experience in providing legal and financial support in Singapore for over 13 years. From choosing the right tax scheme (Section 13O, 13U, or 13D) to structuring investments and ensuring compliance with Singapore’s regulations, our team provides end-to-end support. We assist with operational setup, hiring professionals, and developing long-term strategies for wealth preservation and growth. Whether you need help with establishing a Single Family Office (SFO) or scaling a Multi-Family Office (MFO), we offer the expertise and resources to make the process seamless and efficient.
We have extensive experience in providing legal and financial support in Singapore for over 13 years. From choosing the right tax scheme (Section 13O, 13U, or 13D) to structuring investments and ensuring compliance with Singapore’s regulations, our team provides end-to-end support. We assist with operational setup, hiring professionals, and developing long-term strategies for wealth preservation and growth. Whether you need help with establishing a Single Family Office (SFO) or scaling a Multi-Family Office (MFO), we offer the expertise and resources to make the process seamless and efficient.