Transactions within key sectors such as real estate, broadcasting, financial services and banking, and professional services are subject to foreign investment controls.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) generally oversees matters relating to trade and investments. The Economic Development Board is the lead government agency under the MTI. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore is a statutory board under the MTI which administers competition-related matters.

Specific authorities oversee the particular key sectors:

• Real estate: Singapore Land Authority, Housing and Development Board, Jurong Town Corporation.
• Broadcasting: Info-Communications Media Development Authority.
• Financial services and banking: Monetary Authority of Singapore.
• Professional services: Legal Services Regulatory Authority.

No time limit.

No general FDI filing obligations but prior approvals are mandatory to be sought under the relevant statutes relating to businesses in the key sectors described above.

Foreign ownership in the key sectors described above.

The FDI regime captures the indirect acquisition of ownership in the key sectors described above.

Depends on which sector the application process is under.

For cases where real estate is acquired in contravention of the foreign ownership restrictions, the transfers will be null and void.

For cases where controls are implemented through the licensing regimes, a licence will not be granted and it is an offence to carry out licensable activities without a licence.

Penalties include fines and imprisonment terms and depend on the particular legislation breached.

Generally possible to appeal decisions made by authorities.

No special measures.

Singapore has relatively minimal restrictions on FDI except in a few specific sectors such as the sectors referred to in the responses to question 2. There is no separate law governing foreign investments in Singapore and foreign investments in these sectors are regulated by sector-specific regulators.

As mentioned above, transactions within the key sectors subject to foreign investment controls will be subject to FDI restrictions, filing or review. Some key sectors and the relevant main regulatory bodies/legislative restrictions are set out below.

Real estate

This sector is regulated by the Singapore Land Authority, the Housing and Development Board and the Jurong Town Corporation, depending on the type of real estate involve. Landed residential properties are subject to foreign ownership restrictions[1] while private high-rise residential units, industrial and commercial real estate are generally not subject to foreign ownership restrictions. 

Broadcasting

This sector is regulated by the Info-Communications Media Development Authority (MDA). The Broadcasting Act 1994 (Broadcasting Act) prohibits the receipt of any foreign-sourced funds to finance certain broadcasting service without the prior consent of the IMDA and the granting of any broadcasting license to a company substantially controlled by foreign sources.[2] The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act 1974 (NPPA) also prohibits the acceptance of any funds from a foreign source without the prior approval of the concerned Minister and places restrictions on shareholder composition of newspaper companies, restricting foreign control.[3]

Financial services and banking

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) oversees all financial institutions in Singapore and regulates foreign investment in financial institutions. The Banking Act 1970 (Banking Act) provides for the licensing and regulation of the business of banks and related financial institutions in Singapore. It imposes certain ownership restrictions such as by requiring any person becoming a substantial shareholder of a bank incorporated in Singapore to first obtain the concerned Minister’s approval and imposes relevant restrictions on banking activities that can be carried out by foreign financial institutions through relevant licensing conditions attached to the licenses granted to these financial institutions under the Banking Act.

Professional services

The Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA), a department established under the Ministry of Law, oversees the regulation, licensing and compliance of all law practice entities and the registration of foreign lawyers in Singapore. All law practices are subject to a licensing regime that determines the Singapore law-related services that they can offer. For example, a foreign law firm that is seeking to establish in Singapore may:

• apply to the LSRA to operate as a foreign law practice (FLP) offering legal services in the area of foreign and international law, except in the context of international commercial arbitration; or
• obtain a qualifying foreign law practice license[4] or enter into a joint law venture or formal law alliance with a Singapore law practice[5] that may allow it to undertake Singapore law-related legal services. FLPs and regulated foreign lawyers who hold interests in Singapore law practices are subject to certain threshold requirements including limits on the ratio of regulated foreign lawyers to Singapore qualified lawyers as well as restrictions relating to directorships, partnership interests and shareholdings.

All entities that provide public accountancy services must be under the control and management of partners who are public accountants residing in Singapore. If the firm has more than two partners, two thirds of the partners must be public accountants residing in Singapore. Only public accountants who are members of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants in Singapore and registered with the Singapore Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority may practice in Singapore as an auditor of financial statements and as a judicial manager under the Accountants Act 2004.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) is the government body that generally oversees matters relating to trade and investments, with a mission to ensure that Singapore’s economy continues to be competitive and is able to attract investments. The Economic Development Board is the lead government agency under the MTI that formulates investment promotion policies and plans to develop the Singapore economy, including facilitating and supporting foreign investments into Singapore.

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) is another statutory board under the MTI which administers, inter alia, competition-related legislation including the control of practices which may have an adverse effect on competition in Singapore. CCCS also represents Singapore in respect of competition matters in the international arena and has a statutory duty to advise the government or other public authorities on national needs and policies in respect of competition matters.

Specific authorities oversee the particular key sectors listed in the responses to question 2.

There is no specific lookback period limiting the powers of the authorities to investigate deals from an FDI perspective.

There are no general FDI filing obligations since there is no separate law governing foreign investments in Singapore. However, if a transaction or deal falls under one of the key sectors described above, prior approvals from the relevant regulatory body will be required before foreign ownership or foreign-sourced funds are allowed for the relevant transaction/deal.

Prior approvals are mandatory to be sought under the relevant statutes relating to businesses in the key sectors described above. Examples of approvals to be sought are set out below.

Foreign ownership of landed residential property

• A foreign person who wishes to purchase a landed residential property is required to seek approval under the Residential Property Act 1976.

Receipt of foreign funds for any newspaper

• A person receiving any foreign-sourced funds on behalf of or for the purposes of any newspaper must seek the Minister’s prior approval. If such funds are sent to the person without the person’s prior knowledge, consent or solicitation, that person must report to the Minister within three days of receipt of such funds the circumstances of receipt.[1]

Receipt of foreign funds for purposes of certain broadcasting service

• A person receiving any foreign-sourced funds for the purposes of financing any broadcasting service must seek prior consent of the IMDA and if such funds are sent to the person without the person’s prior knowledge, consent or solicitation, the person must report to the IMDA within seven days of the receipt of such funds the circumstances of receipt.

The foreign ownership restrictions and restrictions on foreign-sourced funds in the key sectors described above are strictly mandatory. However, ultimately it is within relevant Minister’s discretion to decide whether or not to grant the necessary approvals. Likely factors the relevant authorities will take into account include whether the activity will have a substantial positive or negative impact in Singapore.

For instance, each application for the foreign ownership of landed residential property is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration, including but not limited to, the following factors:

• The person should be a permanent resident of Singapore for at least five years.
• The person must make exceptional economic contribution to Singapore.

The procedure for the necessary applications to obtain approval for foreign ownerships and foreign-sourced funds varies under the relevant statutes set out above. Below are some procedures for the applications in a few key sectors described above.

Foreign person’s application to own landed residential property

An application for the foreign ownership of landed residential property takes approximately one month. The processing time includes verifying the information with other agencies, checking if the applicant or his spouse owns restricted property[1], as well as the assessment of the application by the Residential Property Advisory Committee before the final recommendation is sent to the Minister for consideration.

The conditions of approval are that the:

• Property must solely be used for the applicant’s own occupation and that of the members of the applicant’s family as a dwelling house and not for rental or any other purpose.
• Applicant shall not dispose of the property within 5 years from the date of legal completion of the purchase of the property or, if the property is under construction, 5 years from the date of issue of the Temporary Occupation Permit (a temporary permit that allows residents to reside in a development that is habitable but incomplete) or Certificate of Statutory Completion (a permit that is granted once all building requirements have been met) (whichever is issued earlier) for the property.
• Applicant shall not subdivide the property without approval.

Application for licensing and authorization of banking business

There are no specific rules for foreign applicants for bank or merchant bank licenses. However, for digital full bank licenses, a foreign company must form a joint venture with at least one local company and the joint venture must be anchored in Singapore, be controlled by Singaporeans and headquartered in Singapore. In assessing an application for a banking license or to operate as a merchant bank, MAS considers the strength of the home country supervision and wiliness and ability of the home supervisory authority to co-operate with MAS. MAS may also impose certain specific conditions together with the license issued to foreign applicants.

Where foreign ownership restrictions are imposed as legislative restrictions, non-compliance with such restrictions is an offence under the relevant statutes described above. In particular, for cases where real estate is acquired in contravention of the foreign ownership restrictions, the transfers will be null and void and any person contravening such restrictions will be guilty of an offence.

Separately, in cases where controls are implemented through the licensing regimes, a licence will not be granted and it is an offence to carry out licensable activities without a licence. The penalties for committing an offence include fines and imprisonment terms. The amount of fines or length of imprisonment term imposed vary, and are set out in the various statutes and laws governing each sector.

No. The relevant approvals must be sought in relation to the foreign ownership or foreign-sourced funds for the regulated activities or businesses set out above.

It is generally possible to appeal decisions made by the authorities. For instance, any applicant who fails to be granted a bank licence under the Banking Act may appeal in writing to the Minister within 30 days from the decision of the MAS.[1] Any person not granted approval by the Minister to receive on behalf or for the purposes of any newspaper any funds from a foreign source may appeal to the President, whose decision is final.[2] A company not granted to hold a broadcasting licence by the Minister due to the presence of a foreign source may also appeal to the Minister, whose decision is final.[3]

Businesses operating in the key sectors described above looking to accept foreign ownership or foreign-sourced funds should find out early on if necessary approvals and licenses are required and work with the relevant regulatory bodies to obtain them before conducting the relevant regulated activities in Singapore.

No. Singapore’s economic development policy has always been based on a strategy to attract FDI and Singapore is a regional hub for foreign investors seeking to deploy their capital in the region. The Singapore government has not introduced any additional FDI restrictions in Singapore in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As mentioned in the answer to question 12, Singapore’s economic development policy has always been based on a strategy to attract FDI. In general, there have been more policies and incentives aimed at attracting FDI, and FDI enforcement on existing foreign ownership restrictions has remained relatively unchanged over the years, including post the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Nevertheless, despite a general policy that is attractive towards FDI, the authorities actively penalize persons who try to circumvent foreign ownership restrictions. For instance, a woman was sentenced to two weeks’ jail in January 2022 for buying three semi-detached properties on behalf of foreigners with the intention of transferring ownership of the properties to these foreigners once they obtained Singapore citizenship. She was caught to violate the Residential Property Act 1976 of Singapore for purchasing these residential properties with the intention of holding it in trust for a foreigner.  

While there have not been changes to the above legislative restrictions on the FDI regime in Singapore, there have been increasing incentives offered by the government to attract FDI. The Global Investor Program (GIP), for instance, has been updated in 2020. The GIP was introduced to offer permanent resident status to select groups of high net worth individuals and business owners to relocate to Singapore if they can demonstrate a plan to infuse capital injection into the Singapore economy and create employment opportunities for Singaporeans.

The changes include having:

• The minimum revenue requirements for established business owners to qualify for the GIP being increased from S$50 million to S$200 million. 
• The GIP made available to new categories of investors such as founders of fast growing companies.

No particular development is expected to Singapore’s FDI regime in respect of foreign investment control. The FDI regime will likely remain relatively supportive of attracting FDI to Singapore, without imposing additional FDI restrictions.

As Singapore actively looks to expand its connections with the rest of Asia and APAC and with some foreign investors questioning Hong Kong’s traditional role as a focal point for investments into mainland China, Singapore’s strategic importance for investors as a staging post for Asian FDI looks set to increase.

The Singapore government is likely to continue offering investment incentives to attract foreign investors. While historically a large portion of FDI into Singapore has been in the semiconductor as well as the energy and chemicals sector, Singapore looks to future drivers of economic growth and will participate in an innovation-led economy going forward. The Enterprise Singapore (a governmental body) has been formed by merging other ministries overseeing international investment and is tasked to attract foreign investors in such participation of the new innovation-led economy. The Singapore Economic Development Board also supports and sometimes is a co-investor in companies that plan to expand Singapore’s presence overseas.

For more information contact Stephanie Keen, Partner, Singapore