Singapore legislation
Regulation 10
Regulation 10
Specific customer due diligence measures for legal practitioners who act as trustees
Subregulation 1
A legal practitioner who acts as a trustee must perform the customer due diligence measures referred to in paragraphs (2) to (6).
Subregulation 2
A legal practitioner who is a trustee of an express trust governed by Singapore law must, at the applicable time specified in rule 11, obtain and must maintain adequate, accurate and current information on the identities of the settlor, each trustee, the protector (if any) and each beneficiary or class of beneficiaries of the trust, and of any other individual exercising effective control over the trust.
Subregulation 3
A legal practitioner who is a trustee of any trust governed by Singapore law must, at the applicable time specified in rule 11, obtain and must maintain basic information on every other regulated agent of, or service provider to, the trust, including any investment adviser or manager, accountant or tax adviser.
Subregulation 4
The legal practitioner referred to in paragraph (2) or (3) must maintain the information referred to in the applicable paragraph for at least 5 years after the legal practitioner’s involvement with the trust ceases.
Subregulation 5
The legal practitioner referred to in paragraph (2) or (3) must ensure that any information maintained pursuant to the applicable paragraph is kept accurate and as up-to-date as possible, and is updated on a timely basis.
Subregulation 6
Subject to any rule of law relating to a trustee’s duty of confidentiality, a legal practitioner must, when forming a business relationship with any person referred to in the following sub‑paragraphs in the legal practitioner’s capacity as a trustee, disclose to that person the legal practitioner’s status as such trustee:
a financial institution as defined in section 2 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022;
a casino operator as defined in section 2(1) of the Casino Control Act 2006;
(ba)a developer as defined in section 2 of the Sale of Commercial Properties Act 1979;
(bb)a housing developer as defined in section 2(1) of the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act 1965;
a licensed estate agent as defined in section 3(1) of the Estate Agents Act 2010;
a regulated dealer as defined in section 2 of the Precious Stones and Precious Metals (Prevention of Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Proliferation Financing) Act 2019;
(da)a pawnbroker as defined in section 3(1) of the Pawnbrokers Act 2015;
a legal practitioner;
a foreign lawyer registered under section 36P of the Act;
a notary public as defined in section 2 of the Notaries Public Act 1959;
a public accountant as defined in section 2(1) of the Accountants Act 2004;
a person (not being a legal practitioner or a public accountant) who provides one or more of the following services:
acting as an agent for the formation of entities;
acting as (or arranging for another person to act as) a director or secretary of a company, a partner of a partnership, or a person holding a similar position in any other entity;
providing a registered office, any business address or any accommodation, correspondence or administrative address for a company, a partnership or any other entity or legal arrangement;
acting as (or arranging for another person to act as) a trustee of an express trust, or performing (or arranging for another person to perform) a function equivalent to the function of a trustee in any other legal arrangement;
acting as (or arranging for another person to act as) a nominee shareholder for another person.