Singaporean companies looking to invest in Shanghai will soon find the registration process significantly streamlined, thanks to a newly launched cross-border digital trust service.

Announced on Nov 25 during the Global Data Ecosystem Conference 2025, this service promises to reduce both time and cost for business registration compared with traditional paper-based notarization.

Supported by the Shanghai Data Bureau, the initiative aims to create a faster, simpler, and more secure process for cross-border business activities and strengthen investment flows between Shanghai and Singapore.

By eliminating the need for physical document exchanges, the service is expected to attract more Singaporean enterprises to establish operations in Shanghai.

The digital trust service is the result of a collaboration between the Shanghai Data Bureau, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority, and the Singapore Academy of Law.

Together, they have developed a pilot application utilizing decentralized identity technology and verifiable credentials to enable Singaporean investors to complete the registration of foreign-funded enterprises in Shanghai entirely online.

This pilot has successfully addressed the long-standing challenges of verifying the authenticity and validity of notarized documents, clarifying the authorization relationships of Singaporean companies' signatories.

As a result, eligible Singaporean firms can now register in Shanghai without submitting physical notarized documents.

Shanghai and Singapore plan to extend this digital service to aid Chinese companies in establishing operations in Singapore, providing a convenient online registration channel.

The two sides will continue exploring new scenarios for digital identity use and electronic document interoperability, and work to expand these solutions across more sectors.

Shanghai is committed to enhancing the cross-border digital identity interoperability platform, exploring blockchain-based models, and expanding these capabilities to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

This effort aims to improve identity verification for foreign individuals and businesses while continuing to refine the city's digital identity services.

Source: Shanghai Observer