To enhance client confidentiality and assist with global trading, Healy Consultants will act as nominee director and shareholder where required. The following is an overview of the benefits and disadvantages of appointing nominee shareholders and directors, enabling you to make an informed decision.

It is a statutory requirement in every jurisdiction in the world that a company appoint shareholders and directors. The minimum number of shareholders and directors varies depending on the jurisdiction, from just one shareholder and director in Singapore to a minimum of 7 shareholders in Thailand. Healy Consultants provides full advice on shareholder and director requirements for every country in the world.

A nominee shareholder is an individual or company holding shares in a company for the benefit of another individual or company. A nominee shareholder is not the beneficial owner.

A nominee director is a company director whose role is passive. For a fee, the nominee director assists the company fulfill statutory obligations.

Reasons to appoint nominee shareholders and directors include:

i) In some jurisdictions (for example, Singapore), shareholders' and directors' details appear on a public register. To protect their identity, the beneficial owner of a company will appoint nominee shareholders and directors whose details will appear on the register;

ii) In other jurisdictions, although there may be no public register of shareholders and directors, the jurisdiction may be under pressure from international bodies such as the OECD to disclose investor information. Nominee shareholders and directors therefore offer a further layer of asset protection;

iii) To fulfill statutory requirements - some jurisdictions (for example Singapore and Australia) require a company to appoint a resident director. Healy Consultants will act as the resident director for your company if required (see our Singapore resident director page for further information. In some countries (for example in Dubai), it is necessary to appoint a local citizen to act as shareholder. Healy Consultants will provide the nominee shareholder to fulfil this requirement.

iv) Company logistics - some clients appoint Healy Consultants as nominee shareholder and directors for practical purposes, for example to act on their behalf when opening a corporate bank account without them needing to travel to meet the bank. Note that in this case Healy Consultants is not a bank signatory.

Nominee shareholders and directors can be appointed for a company incorporated in any country in the world.

We urge international entrepreneurs to carefully consider the consequences of appointing nominee shareholders and directors. Because a shareholder and director is a legal requirement, the individual or company is bestowed with a lot of power in the company to:

i) Make strategic decisions affecting the operations and management structure of the company; and

ii) Act on behalf of the company with clients, suppliers, governments etc.

Healy Consultants is a reputable company which acts as nominee shareholder and director for many of our clients' companies. Please contact us should you require a reference.

For more information on nominee shareholders and directors, contact email@healyconsultants.com or call us in Singapore at (+65) 6735 0120.