Private trusts and private trust companies in Singapore
A private trust company, or PTC, is a company set up to act as trustee for one family’s trusts and no one else’s. We look after the company side: incorporation, corporate secretarial, accounting, tax and directorship support for family office and PTC structures, working with the family’s other advisers.
Where the structure also involves trust and legal specialists, we coordinate the company work with them, so the companies and the trusts stay in step.
What a private trust is
A trust is a legal arrangement in which one person, the settlor, transfers assets to a trustee, who holds and manages them for the beneficiaries. A family trust is usually set up to preserve wealth and pass it on smoothly to later generations. The assets can include property, cash, shares, a family business or art, and the beneficiaries can include family members and charities. Some settlors also appoint a protector to supervise the trustee.
Singapore no longer charges estate duty, so families here usually set up a trust for continuity, control and family governance rather than to save tax at death.
What a private trust company is
In Singapore law, a private trust company is a corporation whose sole purpose is to provide trust services for a specific trust or trusts, and which does not solicit trust business from, or provide trust services to, the public. Each settlor must be connected to the other settlors, and each beneficiary must be connected to the settlor or be a charity. A company that fits this definition does not need a trust business licence. Families usually choose one for these reasons:
The family on the board
Family members and trusted advisers can sit on the PTC’s board and take part in trustee decisions, instead of handing every decision to an outside trustee.
Continuity across generations
A company does not retire or die. The trustee stays in place while its directors change, which suits trusts meant to last for generations.
One trustee for several trusts
A single PTC can act for several trusts within the same family, provided the connection rules on settlors and beneficiaries are met.
Assets that need hands-on decisions
Where a trust holds an operating business or property, families often want trustee decisions taken close to the people who know those assets.
The licensed trust company requirement
Every PTC must engage a licensed trust company to carry out trust administration services for the anti-money laundering checks MAS requires. This is regulation 4(2) of the Trust Companies (Exemption) Regulations, and a PTC that does not comply commits an offence. No PTC structure removes this requirement.
The PTC has duties of its own as well. MAS Notice TCA-N03 applies to private trust companies as well as licensed trust companies. It requires due diligence on the people connected to each trust, such as the settlor, protector and beneficiaries, record keeping and the reporting of suspicious transactions. Because the exemption depends on the PTC not soliciting trust business from the public, it should only ever act for the family it was set up for.
Setting up a PTC: the usual steps
- Plan the structureWith your advisers: the trusts, the settlors and beneficiaries, and who will sit on the PTC’s board. Your lawyer drafts the trust deeds.
- Incorporate the companyA Singapore private company with a constitution your lawyer settles for its trustee role, at least one director ordinarily resident in Singapore, and a company secretary within six months.
- Engage the licensed trust companyAgree the trust administration services for the anti-money laundering checks before the PTC starts acting as trustee.
- Open accounts and set up recordsBank accounts in the PTC’s name as trustee, statutory registers, books and a filing calendar.
Our company incorporation page sets out how a Singapore company is formed.
Running a PTC: what happens every year
- ACRA filings, including the annual return, with changes to officers or shareholders updated within 14 days
- Statutory registers kept current, including the register of registrable controllers
- Board minutes that record each trustee decision and the reasons for it
- Books and financial statements for the PTC itself
- The PTC’s own corporate tax filings, and a settled view of how each trust is taxed
- The PTC’s own due diligence and records under MAS Notice TCA-N03, alongside the licensed trust company’s checks
Who does what
What we do
Incorporation, corporate secretarial, accounting and tax support for the PTC and the family’s other companies, kept in step with the trust side.
What your licensed trust company does
The trust administration services the PTC must engage it for under regulation 4(2), including the anti-money laundering checks on the people connected to each trust.
What your lawyer does
Advises on the structure, drafts the trust deeds and the PTC’s constitution, and advises on succession and the law that governs each trust.
Tax
How the trusts and their income are taxed, and whether a fund tax incentive applies to any investment vehicle in the structure, is settled when the structure is planned.
Not sure where to start? Tell us about the family, the assets and what the structure should achieve. We will explain how the company side would work for your structure. If the family will also manage its investments through a single family office, see fund tax exemption for family offices. For the PTC’s bank accounts, see private banking account support.
Excellence Singapore is a registered corporate service provider that has supported more than 4,000 businesses since 2013.
Planning a private trust company?
Tell us what the trust will hold and who will run it. We will set out the company work and how it fits with the rest of the structure.
Private Trust Companies: Frequently Asked Questions
A private trust company, or PTC, is a corporation whose sole purpose is to provide trust services for a specific trust or trusts of one family. Each settlor must be connected to the other settlors, and each beneficiary must be connected to the settlor or be a charity. It must not solicit trust business from, or provide trust services to, the public.
It needs no trust business licence if it meets the definition of a private trust company: the Trust Companies (Exemption) Regulations exempt it. The exemption comes with conditions. The PTC must engage a licensed trust company for trust administration services covering the anti-money laundering checks, and MAS Notice TCA-N03 applies to it directly.
Regulation 4(2) of the Trust Companies (Exemption) Regulations requires it, so that a licensed firm carries out trust administration services for the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing checks MAS requires. A PTC that does not engage one commits an offence, and no structure removes the requirement.
We provide incorporation, corporate secretarial, accounting, tax and directorship support for the PTC and the family's other companies, and keep its ACRA filings, registers, books and tax filings in order.
As a Singapore company, it files its annual return with ACRA, keeps its registers current, including the register of registrable controllers, prepares financial statements and files corporate tax returns. As an exempt trust company, it keeps up due diligence and records under MAS Notice TCA-N03, with checks carried out through its licensed trust company.
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