The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday said it is moving to the next phase of its reform agenda, with measures aimed at making it easier to start businesses, raise capital and improve liquidity in the Philippine market.
SEC Chairman Francis E. Lim, who is celebrating his first year in office, said the agency has made progress in reducing regulatory friction.
‘But there are still structural barriers that prevent businesses from starting faster and companies from tapping the capital market more efficiently,’ he said. ‘Our next task is to address these barriers and build a market that is easier to access, more liquid and more competitive.’
Among the SEC’s proposals is the One Business Start Date, which will allow companies to begin commercial operations upon securing their SEC registration or other primary regulatory license while completing other government permits in parallel.
The proposal seeks to shorten the period between company registration and the actual start of business operations.
The SEC has also expanded its digital services and imposed internal processing timelines, including a deemed approved policy for applications that go beyond prescribed periods.
It reduced fees for corporate document requests by a cumulative 62.5 percent from 2023 rates, translating to around P211 million in savings as of June 2026.
The SEC is also working with the World Bank to overhaul the public offering framework by separating regulatory requirements for debt and equity securities.
The review seeks to make disclosure requirements more proportionate to the type and risks of securities being offered, making capital raising more accessible to companies.
Lim is also looking at possible refinements to the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) framework to make the program more attractive to both employers and employees and encourage greater participation in the capital market.
Other measures introduced during Lim’s first year include a 5-year shelf registration framework, tiered minimum public ownership requirements, expanded REIT rules, Sukuk regulations and Southeast Asia’s first Green Equity Guidelines.
The SEC also widened financing options for smaller enterprises through crowdfunding and sector-specific programs for hospitals, agribusinesses and other priority industries.
The SEC is currently developing a Philippine Capital Market Master Plan with the Asian Development Bank to consolidate its reforms into a long-term strategy for expanding access to capital and improving the competitiveness of the domestic market.
The plan forms part of the SEC’s goal of positioning the Philippines to become one of Southeast Asia’s leading capital markets by 2030.
Lim said capital market development must involve both companies seeking financing and Filipinos who could eventually become investors.
‘Ease of doing business is still very high in our agenda, and we will remain to the same. We will continue with our automation. We want to automate or digitalize almost everything, create one human touch as part of our SEC transformation talk about for enterprises and markets.’