SEC targets 300 listed firms by 2025  

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is targeting to have 300 publicly listed companies in the country by 2025.

SEC commissioner Kelvin Lester Lee, who is supervising the Markets and Securities Regulation Department (MSRD) and the Information & Communications Technology Department (ICTD), said the main goal is to have 300 PLCs in the Philippine stock market by the said year.

“Our initial goal is the listing of 15 initial public offerings (IPOs) near-term,” he said.

This so-called Project 300 is aligned with another initiative announced in 2021 where the SEC aims to have at least 888 companies raise capital from the stock market.

This includes crowdfunding participants, hospitals and companies registered with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.

Lee said the SEC has also taken steps to make it easier for companies to do their IPOs.

For instance,  the SEC has committed to complete the IPO process within 45 days.

Furthermore, the required financial information submitted by IPO applicants has been reduced to three years from four years.

To protect investors, the SEC will also soon ban several unregistered cryptocurrency and online trading platforms.

“First and foremost, the SEC has to protect the credibility of our markets—and this can only happen if it is assiduous in efforts to secure investors against potential and actual harm,” Lee said.

He said the SEC only allows entities, whether local or foreign, to operate in the Philippines once they are registered with the SEC or other Philippine regulators.

“Allowing unregistered entities to operate only increases investors’ exposure to risk; and normal, everyday business already has risks. Let’s not add to that,” said Lee.

The move is part of the reforms the SEC has been implementing to help the country’s capital markets catch up with its counterparts in the Southeast Asian region.