It is legal to own a holding company in Singapore 100% as a foreign resident. This means the assets in the holding company are entirely owned by the shareholders of the holding company, who may be you only. There is no requirement to give up ownership for local content.
A holding company is its own legal body corporate, that a shareholder cannot be asked to pay more than the amount unpaid on his shares when the company is wound up. Once shares are fully paid up, the share-holder is relieved of liability to contribute on a winding up or liquidation.
A privately-owned holding company has limitations on share transfers. Shareholders cannot buy and sell the holding company shares freely. Any share transfer is subject to the board approval. There is also a limit on the number of shareholders a privately-owned holding company can have (50).
Therefore, owning a holding company and using that to buy assets like Gold is safe because;
- You cannot lose more than what you have put into the holding company
- You continue to own assets in the holding company unless you decide to sell them or transfer ownership
- Your holding company is always compliant under the responsibility of the resident director, who is subjected to heavy fines and even criminal conviction if filing is not up-to-date
- Your assets cannot be removed or transferred without your knowledge and approval as the convictions from commercial breach of trust is extremely severe and easily enforceable in Singapore
