Posted on May 09, 2016
10:04:00 PM [bworldonline.com]
By Krista A.M. Montealegre,
Reporter
WITH the looming change in
government leadership, the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) is keen on
reviving key products and services that have been stalled in the last six
years.
The trading floor of the
Philippine Stock Exchange is seen in this file photo dated Aug. 28, 2014. -- BW
FILE PHOTO
PSE President and Chief
Executive Officer Hans B. Sicat told reporters over the weekend the local
bourse is hoping for an “environment that is a lot more open and
forward-looking” once the new leadership takes over.
“When I say
forward-looking, when you look at products and services in the capital markets,
we should really be trying to work to turn these on locally rather than relying
on structured things and since the Philippines is doing well, that is enough,”
Mr. Sicat said.
One of the efforts that
faced regulatory obstacles was the proposed merger of the country’s equities
and fixed-income exchanges, which had been rejected by the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC).
The PSE is not rushing to
make a decision on how to go about the consolidation this time, noting that it
is awaiting “if there are any policy changes or views” in light of the
election, Mr. Sicat said.
“We are reviewing different
approaches whether we continue to buy or build the options for building various
parts of the services...These are things we will decide on in the next few
months,” he said.
Another key initiative that
have failed to take off is the real estate investment trust (REIT). The Aquino
government had imposed stringent REIT rules to limit revenue lesions caused by
laws that grant generous tax perks.
The REIT Act lapsed into
law in December 2009 with none of the major property developers coming forward
with their prospective offerings amid issues on ownership and taxation on asset
transfers.
The PSE is awaiting the
composition of the new economic team before making an aggressive push for this
product, Mr. Sicat said.
“The big issue, if you
recall, was that the SEC and BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) added provisions
on the implementing rules and regulations (IRR). It can be as easy as both
regencies revising their stand on it because you do have a law and you have a
set of IRRs which would have been a good test case for doing REITs,” he said.
“Changing the law or
amending the law for REITs is a plan but that’s a medium-term plan. You can
turn on the product very quickly,” Mr. Sicat said.
The PSE is crafting a new
medium-term plan that will focus on building on the gains of its efforts in the
past three years to transform the local bourse into a world-class exchange.
Aside from expanding its
menu of products and services, the PSE is enhancing on its technical and human
resource capability, and improving its technological capacity in line with its
thrust to boost liquidity in the stock market.
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