PSE in the hunt for Leung’s replacement

With still five months before its annual elections, the Philippine Stock Exchange is already scouting for a new president.

A PSE source said brokers are now coming up with a list of possible candidates to head the bourse as PSE president Ernest Leung has already signified his intention not to renew his contract set to expire early next year.

Leung assumed the presidency of the exchange in Dec. 2001, replacing Ramon T. Garcia, who figured in a clash with the PSE board in Sept. 2001 over a property donation agreement at the Bonifacio Global City

"Some brokers have already started their search for a new bourse president. Leung, I believe, has already indicated that he won’t ask for renewal of his term," the PSE source said.

The same source said member-brokers are not too keen on renewing Leung’s contract as he is perceived to be "someone difficult to work with."

An early favorite among PSE member-brokers and employees, the source said, is Conrado F. Bate, the former managing director of Jardine Fleming Exchange Capital Securities Inc.

The source said certain PSE officials and broker-firms are proposing that the next president should be knowledgeable about the business or has been a broker before.

The Securities Regulation Code requires that the president be a non-broker or someone who has not been associated with any broker firm for a period of two years prior to his/her appointment. This is to make sure that he/she represents the interests of issuers, investors and other market participants.

The same source said the next president should be an outsider with "good connections." "We need someone who is well-accepted in the banking industry, someone who has integrity," the source said.

The exchange has been trying to erase its image as an "old boys" club and recover from controversies that had dragged its credibility to an all-time low.

Leung used to hold the top post at the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and served briefly as chairman of the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines. He gave up his post at DBP to make way for former PSE president Vitaliano Nañagas.

Aside from Leung, Garcia and Nanagas, other past presidents of the PSE under a unified exchange are lawyer Eduardo De Los Angeles and Jose Luis Yulo.