Your Business Entity Now Has A New Format Company Registration Number!
With effect from 11 October 2019, the Companies Commission of Malaysia (“SSM”) will be adopting a new unified registration number for business vehicles.[1]
This measure is part of the Small and Medium Enterprise High Impact Program (SME HIP 1) led by the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) meant to facilitate “data management and system development”.[2]
Interestingly, limited liability partnerships and businesses registration numbers will also adopt the same business registration number format. This will achieve true uniformity in the registration numbers across the different types of business vehicles in Malaysia.
The New Registration Number Format
The new registration number format consists of:
- First 4 digits: the year the business entity was registered, e.g. 2019 means the business vehicle was registered in the year 2019;
- Following 2 digits: business entity code, being:
- 01: local company;
- 02: foreign company;
- 03: business (register of business);
- 04: local limited liability partnership;
- 05: foreign limited liability partnership;
- 06: limited liability partnership for professional practice; and
- Last 6 digits: the registration number sequence.
As we can observe from the business entity code, the new registration number format captures all types of business vehicles in Malaysia.
Aside from newly registered business vehicles, all existing business vehicles will be given a new 12-digit registration number. An example of how it should be displayed is as follows:
Name : AMS Setia Jaya Sdn Bhd
Registration number : 201901000005 (1315525-A)
Existing business vehicles can obtain their new 12-digit registration from SSM’s portal, e.g. via the e-Search, e-Info, and MyData services.
While the new format is meant to eventually replace the old format, the old format can still be used for transactions, official letters, invoices, signboards and other printed documents during the transition period and until further notice. However, SSM encourages the use of the new format.
Fortunately, all existing certificates and notices of registration of existing businesses do not need to be replaced.
While the SSM has provided a weblink https://www.ssm.com.my/Pages/Quick_Link/e-Search.aspx to check the new registration numbers, having attempted to search for several different company numbers yielded a ‘No Record Found’ at the time of writing this article.
A Note about HIP 1
The HIP 1 was originally conceived with the goal of improving ease of doing business by integrating the business registration and licensing. The MalaysiaBiz Portal was rolled out in 2017 as part of HIP 1, which provides businesses with a one-stop solution for registering and business and applying for licenses.
Ease of Doing Business
Malaysia was ranked 12th out of 190 countries in the World Bank Doing Business 2020 Report, recording an improvement from 15th place from the 2019.[3]
The standardization of the business registration numbers form part of the effort by the Malaysian government to further bolster our rankings. We look forward to similar future initiatives from the Malaysian government.
[1] https://www.ssm.com.my/Lists/Announcement/AnnouncementDetails.aspx?ID=134
[2]http://www.bernama.com/en/news.php?id=1776414#:~:targetText=The%20new%20number%20format%20contains,the%20business%20entity%2C%20it%20said.
[3] https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/10/24/malaysia-ranks-12th-in-world-bank-doing-business-2020-report
***
This article was written by Shawn Ho (Partner) & Ian Liew (Associate) from the corporate practice group of Donovan & Ho. Shawn leads the corporate practice group of Donovan & Ho, and has been recognised as a Notable Practitioner, whilst the firm has been recognised as a Notable Firm for Corporate and M&A by Asialaw Profiles 2020. We are also ranked a Recommended Firm by IFLR1000 for 2020.
Our corporate practice group advises on corporate acquisitions, restructuring exercises, joint venture arrangements, shareholder agreements, employee share options and franchise businesses, Malaysia start-up founders and can assist with venture capital funds in Seed, Series A & B funding rounds. Feel free to contact us if you have any queries.
