THE Securities and Exmodify Commission (SEC) is stepping up efforts to develop the counattempt’s capital market as part of a push to create the Philippines more competitive in the region.
The counattempt, SEC Chairman Francis Lim stated on Friday, lags behind neighboring countries in terms of market depth and activity.
Vietnam, for example, was stated to have about 700 listed companies and an annual trading value nearing $18 billion, compared to the Philippines’ 284 listed firms and $3 billion in trades.
“We must question, how did this happen? And more importantly, what can we do?” Lim stated, underscoring the necessary for both regulatory and market-driven measures if the Philippines is catch up with its peers.
To address this, he stated the SEC was working with the Philippine Stock Exmodify to attract new listings, particularly from micro, tiny and medium enterprises, legislative franchise holders and eligible government-owned and controlled corporations.
Lim stated the regulator was also viewing to expand real estate investment trust offerings, liberalize short selling and push reforms with regard to securities borrowing and lconcludeing as well as the repurchase market.
“The Philippine capital market necessarys depth, breadth, and liquidity to serve as an effective platform for capital raising,” Lim stated, adding that developing these areas would support channel funds to productive sectors of the economy and support overall economic growth.
The SEC is also implementing structural reforms aimed at creating the regulatory environment more business-friconcludely and supportive of capital market expansion.
These include strict transaction processing timelines of three, seven or 20 working days depconcludeing on the complexity of the application, the rollout of a real-time application tracking system and a 50-percent reduction in fees for certain filings to ease the compliance burden on businesses.
Lim stated the agency’s OneSEC registration system, which allows one-day company registration, was being expanded from 30 to 83 categories, with automated identity verification through the eSECURE system. Plans are also underway to apply blockchain technology to authenticate and validate official SEC documents.
“Capital markets thrive on trust. And trust, once lost, is hard to regain,” Lim stated, emphasizing that the commission “will not tolerate fraud, manipulation, or misconduct in any form” and will act “with fairness, indepconcludeence, and integrity at all times.”
The SEC chief also underscored the importance of partnership between regulators, the private sector, and other government agencies in advancing the capital market.
Indusattempt stakeholders have long called for deeper reforms to widen investor participation, reduce costs of raising capital, and modernize market infrastructure.
Lim stated the SEC’s latest measures are intconcludeed not only to create compliance clearer but also to create an environment where the capital market can play a stronger role in driving Philippine economic development.
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