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THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is stepping up efforts to develop the country’s capital market as part of a push to make the Philippines more competitive in the region.
The country, SEC Chairman Francis Lim said on Friday, lags behind neighboring countries in terms of market depth and activity.
Vietnam, for example, was said 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 ask, how did this happen? And more importantly, what can we do?” Lim said, underscoring the need for both regulatory and market-driven measures if the Philippines is catch up with its peers.
To address this, he said the SEC was working with the Philippine Stock Exchange to attract new listings, particularly from micro, small and medium enterprises, legislative franchise holders and eligible government-owned and controlled corporations.
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Lim said the regulator was also looking to expand real estate investment trust offerings, liberalize short selling and push reforms with regard to securities borrowing and lending as well as the repurchase market.
“The Philippine capital market needs depth, breadth, and liquidity to serve as an effective platform for capital raising,” Lim said, adding that developing these areas would help channel funds to productive sectors of the economy and support overall economic growth.
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The SEC is also implementing structural reforms aimed at making the regulatory environment more business-friendly and supportive of capital market expansion.
These include strict transaction processing timelines of three, seven or 20 working days depending 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 said 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 use blockchain technology to authenticate and validate official SEC documents.
“Capital markets thrive on trust. And trust, once lost, is hard to regain,” Lim said, emphasizing that the commission “will not tolerate fraud, manipulation, or misconduct in any form” and will act “with fairness, independence, and integrity at all times.”
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The SEC chief also underscored the importance of partnership between regulators, the private sector, and other government agencies in advancing the capital market.
Industry stakeholders have long called for deeper reforms to widen investor participation, reduce costs of raising capital, and modernize market infrastructure.
Lim said the SEC’s latest measures are intended not only to make compliance easier but also to create an environment where the capital market can play a stronger role in driving Philippine economic development.
