The Great Divide: Considering Section 157a of the Singapore Companies Act

• Main Author: KOH, Pearlie
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2004
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Business Organizations Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/720; http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/ajal/journal-contents/browse-the-journal/journal-details?Articles.ID=94
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The manner in which the powers of a company are carved out to be exercised by either the general meeting of shareholders or its board of directors is often a matter of interpretation of the constitution of the company. This approach retains a fair amount of flexibility in the differing models of power allocation that may be adopted by incorporators, but once carved out, the power allocation usually remains sacrosanct until such time as the constitution is validly altered. This was the position in Singapore before 2003. In 2003, the Companies Act of Singapore was amended to include s 157A, a section which appears to statutorily allocate the powers in a company. This article queries whether this was intended and, if so, what the consequences might be.