Labuan company search: a free status check, and a secrecy law that guards the rest
Labuan FSA's free REEFS company search confirms whether a Labuan company exists and is active. Anyone can use it, but it needs the exact name or registration number.
That's all the public gets. Directors, shareholders and accounts are secret by law. A letter of good standing from Labuan FSA costs US$100 and is ordered through the company's trust company.
Labuan is Malaysia's offshore centre, and its law treats a company's affairs almost like a bank treats an account. You can learn in a minute whether a Labuan company is real and alive. Everything past that, you have to ask for.
Key takeaways
- REEFS is free and public, but matches only an exact name or number.
- It answers exists, active or struck off. Nothing about people.
- Disclosing directors, owners or accounts is an offence under section 149.
- Good standing, information and corporate profile letters cost US$100 each from 2026.
- Malaysia isn't in the Apostille Convention: papers are legalised through Wisma Putra.
How to search a Labuan company on REEFS
Labuan FSA opened REEFS, its real time search of company status, in August 2020. It runs on the authority's COR@L system, is free, and needs no account or trust company.
- Open the company search on Labuan FSA's site
It links to REEFS on the COR@L system.
Free - Enter the exact name or the registration number
No partial matches. The number on an invoice or certificate is the easiest key.
- Read the status
Live companies show as active. Companies struck off are kept and shown as former.
REEFS answers three questions: exists, active, former.
Getting an exact match on a Labuan company name
Because REEFS won't guess, a missing comma can return nothing for a real company. Paste the name as you have it and see what could trip you up.
No result isn't proof. Try the number, then the name exactly as registered.
Why Labuan directors and shareholders aren't public
Labuan companies do file their directors and members with Labuan FSA. The Labuan Companies Act then keeps those filings shut. Section 149 makes it an offence to disclose a company's affairs without a legal ground, with up to three years in prison or a fine of up to RM1 million.
Who may inspect a Labuan company's file
- Its officersDirectors and the secretary.
- Its membersThe shareholders.
- Someone they authoriseWith written permission from the company.
- A person with good reasonWho satisfies Labuan FSA why they need it.
Section 13(2), on payment of the prescribed fee. A curious stranger isn't on this list.
The file exists. You just need to be inside the company, or persuade the regulator.
Labuan letter of good standing and other letters
Labuan FSA issues letters rather than certificates, and from 1 January 2026 its fee schedule prices each at US$100. The company's trust company files the request through COR@L and pays in dollars or ringgit. Tick what you need:
Only the company, through its trust company, can order these. If you're checking someone else, ask them to order a fresh one.
US$100 a letter, ordered by the company's trust company.
Who owns a Labuan company?
Labuan has a beneficial owner register, it just isn't public. Under Labuan FSA's beneficial ownership guidelines, anyone holding 25% or more, or controlling the company another way, is recorded by the trust company and filed with the Registrar on a fixed clock:
Regulators, the trust company and the owner see it. Nobody else does. To learn who owns a counterparty, ask for certified registers of directors and members from its trust company.
Owners are filed and kept current, but only regulators can look.
Using Labuan documents abroad: legalisation
Malaysia hasn't joined the Apostille Convention, so a Labuan letter used in another country is legalised step by step.
- Notary publicCertifies the copy or the signature first.
- Wisma PutraThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs' consular division in Putrajaya, usually same or next working day.
- The destination's embassyIn Malaysia, if the country receiving it asks.
The Ministry lists Labuan company documents among those needing a notary before it will act. Its own fee is small per document; the Ministry's attestation page sets out the steps. Embassy fees vary.
Three stops, not one. Plan a few days for papers going abroad.
How to check a Labuan company before doing business
- Run REEFS yourself
By registration number. Active, not former.
- Ask for a letter of good standing
Issued in the last three months. It costs them US$100; a real company won't mind.
- Ask for certified registers
Directors and members, certified by the trust company, to see who you're dealing with.
- Ask for a board resolution
Authorising the person who'll sign with you.
- Pay only the company's own account
In its exact registered name.
REEFS for status; the company itself for everything else.
What your own Labuan company shows
Anyone who looks your company up on REEFS sees this, and only this:
Your bank, the trust company and Labuan FSA know who you are, and Malaysia shares tax information with other countries. A stranger doesn't. Our Labuan company is US$4,990 a year, the first year included, with the resident director, audit and yearly meeting handled. What that covers month by month: Labuan annual fees and filings.
A search of your company confirms it's alive. It never names you.
Labuan company search questions, answered
Is the Labuan company search free?
Can I find the directors of a Labuan company?
How much is a Labuan letter of good standing?
Why does REEFS find nothing?
Can a Labuan document get an apostille?
Do you form Labuan companies?
Changelog
- 13 November 2026: first published.
Considering Labuan for a company of your own?
A holding company at 0%, US$4,990 a year with the resident director, audit and Labuan conditions handled.