Variable Capital Company (VCC)

Variable Capital Company (VCC) is a corporate and legal entity structure for investment funds, introduced on 14 January 2020. It was launched to make the fund management industry in Singapore more friendly and help Singapore elevate its position as a global competitive fund domicile.

Additionally, Variable Capital Company (VCC) is mostly described as the ‘Game Changer’ because the scheme was targeted at structuring and regulating undetermined and determined investment funds. However, the Variable Capital Companies Grant Scheme (VCCGS) was further established under the Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF) to increase the efficiency of VCC in Singapore.

The VCCGS scheme is valid till 15 January 2023 but aims to cover the expense that surfaces in the incorporation or establishment of a Variable Capital Company. This could take up to 70% of a total expense of $150,000 per VCC.

Eligibility Criteria

• Qualifying Fund Managers that have established a VCC is Singapore.
• Qualifying Fund Managers that have transferred an incorporated foreign company to Singapore as a VCC and have the necessary legal document legalising this transfer.

Project’s Eligibility

• The VCC incorporated by the qualifying fund manager must not have been a result of a government grant or incentive that amounts to the same set of costs and labour that the scheme seeks to cover.
• A maximum of three (3) incorporated VCC in respect to work completed is accepted per qualifying fund manager.
• All qualified expenses and funds must be paid to Singapore-based service providers for the VCC incorporation, registration, and sub-funds.
• Requesting for the grant scheme to register sub-funds without adequate evidence to show incorporation of VCC is prohibited. However, the qualifying fund manager can request the grant scheme to cover the cost incurred for the registration of the sub-fund under VCC.
• For a newly incorporated VCC, the application must be completed and submitted within three months, beginning from the date of notice of incorporation or notice of transfer of registration issued by ACRA. Whereas, for foreign companies that transfer to Singapore as VCC, application and registration should be issued within three months from the date of ACRA’s acceptance of the VCC’s proof of deregistration.

To apply: Interested applicants should discuss their proposal with MAS. For further info on VCC, check out this guide.