Fund Structuring & Administration in Singapore
Family offices and investment funds, from choosing the structure through licensing and incentive applications to running the thing afterwards. The structure is chosen once and lived with for years.
We advise families and managers on establishing and running investment structures in Singapore: what to set up, what licence or exemption it needs, which tax incentives it can apply for, and who does the work once it is running.
Singapore is chosen for this work because the regulatory framework, the tax incentives and the professional infrastructure are built for it. Those advantages come with conditions, and the conditions are the part that needs planning rather than assuming.
Family offices
A family office is a structure, not a product, and the right one depends on the family rather than on the brochure.
We advise on the shape it should take, typically a holding structure alongside a management entity, on where the assets sit, on governance between generations, and on succession, which is the point of the exercise for most families and the part most often deferred.
Tax incentives are available for qualifying fund structures, and they come with real conditions on assets under management, on local business spending and on the professionals employed here. Those conditions determine whether the structure is worth having, so they belong in the design rather than in a later application.
Where the family’s affairs include Singapore property, wills, or arrangements for incapacity, those interact with the structure. See will writing and Lasting Power of Attorney.
Fund structures
We advise on the fund vehicle and the manager alongside it, including the choice between the available Singapore structures and how they interact with investors, with the manager’s own economics, and with the incentives being sought.
The questions worth settling first are who the investors are and where they are, what the fund will hold, whether it is open or closed ended, and what the manager needs to be authorised to do. Those four answers determine almost everything else.
Licensing and exemptions
Fund management is a regulated activity. Depending on what the manager does, for whom, and at what scale, it may require a capital markets services licence, it may fall within the registered fund management regime, or it may qualify for an exemption.
Choosing the right basis is a design decision rather than a form-filling exercise. Each route carries different requirements on personnel, on capital, on compliance arrangements and on reporting, and moving between them later is disruptive.
We advise on which applies, prepare the application, and deal with the regulator through the process.
Administration and accounting
Once a structure exists it has to be run: valuations, capital calls and distributions, investor reporting, bookkeeping, financial statements and the annual filings. We provide fund administration and accounting so the manager can spend time on the portfolio and on raising capital.
That sits alongside our corporate secretarial, bookkeeping and accounting and tax and accounting work, which matters because a fund’s compliance obligations do not respect the boundaries between those disciplines.
Fund structuring in Singapore: frequently asked questions
What size does a family office need to be?
There is no minimum for setting one up. There are, however, real thresholds attached to the tax incentive schemes, covering assets under management, local spending and the professionals employed here. Whether the structure makes sense usually turns on those thresholds rather than on the family’s total wealth, and it is worth modelling before committing.
Do we need a fund management licence?
It depends on what the manager does, for whom and at what scale. Some arrangements need a capital markets services licence, some fall within the registered regime, and some are exempt, including certain arrangements managing only the assets of a single family. Getting this wrong is a regulatory problem rather than a commercial one, so it is settled first.
How long does it take to set up?
Incorporating the entities is quick. Licensing or registration, opening bank and custody accounts, and any incentive application take considerably longer, and the account opening is usually the slowest part. Plan in months rather than weeks.
Can a foreign family set this up here?
Yes, and many do. Residence is not required to own the structure, though the incentive conditions on local spending and locally employed professionals mean that a structure with no real presence here rarely achieves what it was set up for.
Do the tax incentives apply automatically?
No. They are applied for, granted on conditions, and have to be maintained. A structure that stops meeting the conditions can lose the benefit, which is why the conditions should shape the design rather than being checked afterwards.
Can you administer the structure once it is running?
Yes. Fund administration, accounting, corporate secretarial work and the annual filings can all sit with us, which keeps the records, the accounts and the regulatory position consistent rather than spread across three providers who each assume another is handling it.
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