ACRA's Reply to Media Queries on Disclosure of NRIC Numbers on Bizfile System

1. There have been public queries on the disclosure of full NRIC numbers in ACRA’s Bizfile system.

2. As the national business registry of Singapore, one of ACRA’s functions is to provide access to information, including full NRIC numbers, of company office holders, so that members of the public who need to transact with these businesses can confirm the identity of the individuals associated with the businesses (e.g. when entering into contracts). The availability of such information supports corporate transparency and trust in the business environment. It also facilitates due diligence checks and guards against illicit activities.

3. Under ACRA’s previous Bizfile portal, public users could do a search based on an individual’s name, and get a list of all individuals who are office holders or business owners in Singapore with that same name, as well as their masked NRIC numbers. Users could then select a specific individual and pay for the complete set of information about that individual, which would include his or her full NRIC number, as well as address. As some individuals prefer to keep private their residential addresses, they can also provide a different contact (e.g. an office address) for the ACRA database.

4. ACRA’s new Bizfile portal retains this same search feature for users. But it provides the full NRIC rather than the masked NRIC as part of the search results. This is in line with the broader government effort to move away from using masked NRIC numbers (as explained separately by Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI)).

5. We recognise that we had moved ahead with the unmasking before public education on the appropriate use of NRIC information could be done. As a result, many reacted negatively to the new search feature, and expressed unease about their full NRIC numbers being made public. ACRA has therefore disabled the search function for now. We are sorry for the mistake and for causing anxiety to the public. We will continue to review and update the Bizfile portal to fulfil our role as the national business register of Singapore.