UnionBank of the Philippines is set to deactivate all magnetic stripe cards by the end of March in line with the industry’s migration to the microchip-based bank cards.
In a statement, UnionBank called on its automated teller machine and debit cardholders to claim their Europay Mastercard Visa (EMV) chip enabled cards, as the bank will deactivate the magnetic stripe cards by March 31, 2018.
The Aboitiz-led lender also called on its customers who hold Unified Multi-purpose ID Cards of Government Service Insurance System and Quick Cards of Social Security System equipped with magnetic stripe to claim their new cards.
“We encourage all our customers to [switch] to EMV before March 31, 2018… Doing so will help them avoid any inconvenience in the future, especially with the eventual phaseout of non-EMV transactions,” Dennis L. Matutina, executive vice president for channel management of UnionBank was quoted as saying in the statement.
The bank’s card upgrade measure is months ahead of the June 30, 2018 deadline set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for banks and credit card issuers to shift to EMV technology.
The BSP originally set a January 2017 deadline when it ordered EMV upgrades in 2014.
EMV cards, the current global standard for financial transactions, are more equipped to ward off fraud, identity theft and other malicious activities. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal
AgriNurture, Inc. will be conducting a P283.76 million stock rights offering (SRO) in a bid to raise capital for the expansion of its agricultural businesses.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, Feb. 19, AgriNurture said its board of directors approved last Feb. 17 the company’s plan to conduct the SRO, comprising 283.76 million shares at a value of P1 apiece.
Each existing shareholder of 2.5 shares will be entitled to one stock rights share from the offering.
“The Rights Issue is intended to provide additional working capital to support the growth and strategic initiatives of the Corporation’s core businesses. Management shall finalize the specific allocation of the proceeds for review and approval of the board,” AgriNurture said. — Arra B. Francia
The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) opened its first trading day at its new headquarters in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) on Monday, Feb. 19.
PSE President Ramon S. Monzon and Chairman Jose T. Pardo, alongside other company executives, officially started the trading day by ringing the two bells from the PSE’s two previous trading floors, symbolizing the unity of the once physically separated exchange.
“Welcome to our new home… We’re finally all here,” said Mr. Pardo.
“The most important milestone in this room is that we now witness here, at the trading floor, for the first time, traders from the old Manila Stock Exchange and the old Makati Stock Exchange now share one trading floor,” Mr. Pardo added.
The new office — estimated to have cost P3.5 billion — is situated at One Bonifacio High Street, a tower located along 28th Street corner 5th Avenue and part of Ayala Land Premiere’s prime real estate block in BGC, Taguig City.
Prior to the move, the PSE operated two trading floors in Metro Manila as a result of the merger of the Manila Stock Exchange and the Makati Stock Exchange back in 1992. The first one was located at the PSE Plaza Ayala Triangle, Ayala Tower One in Makati City, and the other being at the Philippine Stock Exchange Centre, Tektite Towers in Pasig City.
Both bourses traded the same stocks of the same companies at the same prices despite being separated.
Mr. Pardo also revealed plans of creating a PSE museum that will let people see the company’s “rich history” and emphasized how the space the new office offers will give them the ability to “grow and support initiatives” for programs in the country.
The PSE last month was named Southeast Asia’s best stock exchange by investment magazine Alpha Southeast Asia, making this the fourth time they received the award in five years.
The Philippine office market is seen to grow by 40% in the next five years, pushed up by the need of information technology- business process management (IT-BPM) to expand in the country.
Data released by real estate services firm Leechiu Property Consultants showed that 4.5 million square meters of office spaces are in the pipeline from 2018 to 2023. Of this, 71% or 3.2 million sq.m. are being constructed in Metro Manila, while the 29% or 1.3 million sq.m are in provincial areas.
This will be added to the current supply of 11.5 million sq.m across the country, 86% of which come from Metro Manila and 14% from the provinces.
“BPM players already invested in the Philippines will continue to dominate the Metro Manila office sector…in the meantime, they are also expanding to provincial locations such as Clark in Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, and notably, Cebu City,” LPC Chief Executive Officer David Leechiu said. — Arra B. Francia
A WIDENING trade deficit should not be taken as a sign of a weakening Philippine economy but that growth will be fueled further, a central bank official said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) downplayed concerns about a wider trade deficit incurred by the Philippines in recent months, saying the country’s external position remains stable.
The country’s external trade deficit logged a new all-time-high $4.017 billion in December, taking the full-year gap to $29.786 billion, also the biggest on record.
Imports increased by 10.2% while exports surged by 9.5% to beat the government’s forecasts of nine percent and eight percent respectively, according to the National Economic and Development Authority.
As of December, the BSP expected the current account — which measures fund flows from goods and services trading — to settle at a $100-million deficit in 2017, a reversal from the $28-million surplus logged as of end-September.
“For some, the narrowing of the current account is taken as a sign that the economy is overheating. But in this case, my take is that if the narrowing of the current account comes from better investments — this is actually what is needed to prevent the economy from overheating,” BSP Managing Director Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. said in a press chat late last week. “Otherwise, if there’s no improvement in investments, you will not be able to accelerate your economic growth.”
Mr. Dakila said the trade-in-goods deficit has started to widen in 2015 as import growth outpaced an increase in exports, reflecting the bigger need for raw materials and intermediate goods to respond to stronger domestic demand.
The administration plans to spend as much as P8.13 trillion on big-ticket infrastructure projects until 2022, when President Rodrigo R. Duterte ends his six-year term, as it hopes to propel gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 7-8% annually from 6.7% last year, 6.9% in 2016 and an average of 6.2% in 2010-2015.
“You can see that investment in proportion to GDP has accelerated,” Mr. Dakila noted.
“The widening of the trade deficit can be viewed as necessary to support further expansion in terms of rising investments and increased infrastructure spending.”
Its impact has been “tempered” by cash remittances of overseas Filipino workers and sales of the business process outsourcing and tourism, Mr. Dakila said. Hence, the Philippines has more than enough buffers to external financial shocks, with $81.206-billion reserves able to cover 8.2 months of imports.
For 2018, the central bank expects the current account to settle at a $700-million deficit, equivalent to 0.2% of GDP. Mr. Dakila said worries should arise only if the ratio breaches five percent. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez
SOLAR PHILIPPINES Power Project Holdings, Inc. remains confident about its business prospects despite Washington’s decision last month to impose a tariff on imported solar panels.
US President Donald Trump on Jan. 22 imposed a tariff of up to 30% on imported solar cells and panels for the next four years, lower than the US International Trade Commission’s recommended 35% duty after finding out that these items were harming American manufacturers.
Solar Philippines Leandro L. Leviste said in a recent interview that the company has “a very diversified mix of customers in the US, Europe and now increasingly India where the policy is to encourage importations of Southeast Asian solar panels.”
“So the market is very dynamic and we still think that there’s a shortage of supply and great demand for Southeast Asian solar panels, which are very well-positioned to compete against the Chinese,” Mr. Leviste said, noting that other foreign markets have preferential import policies for Southeast Asian solar panels.
“Very specifically, the global market for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) right now is around 30,000 megawatts (MW)… and maybe 20,000 of that is in Southeast Asia,” he added.
“So out of the 20,000 MW of Southeast Asia OEM capacity, the Philippines represented by us is less than five percent. So we think there’s a lot of room to grow for us to increase our share in the OEM market because, with the labor cost — labor productivity in the Philippines — we are actually more competitive than Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.”
In August 2017, Mr. Leviste had said the company’s solar panel manufacturing plant in Sto. Tomas, Batangas — which it began operating in March that year — had been able to produce capacity for 800 MW, prompting the company to move to 2018 the date for reaching 2,000 MW or a year earlier than target.
He added that the company aims to build its second factory by the end of this year in order to expand the Philippines’ OEM reach. — VVS
A MODERNIZED, more efficient judiciary should result from reforms that Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes P.A. Sereno hopes will come to fruition in her time at the helm of the country’s highest court, her uncertain tenure notwithstanding in the face of congressional impeachment proceedings.
The impeachment committee at the House of Representatives that began hearings in October last year on establishing probable cause on the charges against Ms. Sereno is expected to submit its findings to the House plenary before Congress’ March 24-May 13 break. Ms. Sereno is facing a slew of complaints calling to question her transparency, her administration of the Supreme Court and her lifestyle.
With that backdrop, the Chief Justice, in a Feb. 15 interview with BusinessWorld, talked with enthusiasm about reforms but responded sparingly to questions on impeachment.
Asked on business groups’ call for the Supreme Court to designate courts focused on land dispute settlement as well as on infrastructure, cybercrime, environment and commercial cases, besides fewer temporary restraining orders that could stall major infrastructure projects, Ms. Sereno said moves have been under way to address these concerns.
“(W)ith respect to commercial courts, our commercial courts are especially trained to handle large-scale commercial disputes, and, of course, they understand — contrary to the misconception that they are unable to understand — economic issues… because of advanced training that are being given them,” she said.
She cited regional trial courts (RTCs) that have been “especially designated as commercial courts” like those in Quezon City and in Makati that are “the busiest” in this regard.
“The judiciary has commercial courts, environmental courts and we are finding a rational way of addressing land disputes,” Ms. Sereno said.
“Our environmental rules are already heralded worldwide as one of the best, and, in fact, several jurisdictions have copied from us. So our writ of kalikasan is unique. That’s the environmental protective writ.”
Ms. Sereno also cited RTCs serving as cyber-crime courts and those focused on drug-related killings.
Asked on TROs on infrastructure projects, she said: “Let me correct everyone’s impression.”
“It’s like an urban legend that courts have been intruding on government infrastructure,” she said, citing “data” showing that “since I sat as Chief Justice, the court has issued only a few TROs on government infrastructure projects.”
“And in the Court of Appeals, none has been issued against a government infrastructure project.”
“Perhaps,” Ms. Sereno continued, “what had been happening is delay because of just compensation in the lower courts, and… we are already trying to formulate rules that will make it easy for every party in an eminent domain proceeding — eminent domain is when you try to expropriate private land for a public purpose — to try to rationalize it so that it doesn’t become unduly long.”
Efforts are also under way to make the judiciary more efficient.
“I actually have a fondness for management information systems and knowing how the process should flow and trying to look for the most efficient way,” Ms. Sereno said.
“And if we really have a stable judiciary, you know the economic benefit of a stable and independent judiciary can be significant. I was engaged in a… 1995 study… we estimated that there would be a significant increase in GDP if this function in the justice system is addressed.”
She added that the judiciary is “into quite heavy data analysis.”
“We are exposing ourselves to measurements… We have already the Strategic Performance Measurement System in the judiciary — the first nationwide measurement for every employee in the judiciary…” she explained.
“And every court’s output is already being measured, unlike before where you just have a general indication that more or less outputs are at this level.”
Among the programs of the Sereno court that have caught the attention of the House impeachment committee is the Enterprise Information Systems Program (EISP) which, Ms. Sereno said, is “a P50-million study funded by the World Bank for the Supreme Court” that seeks to improve the “front-end to the back-end range of services”.
“We even enhanced it to comply with the… Philippines (being) disaster-prone — earthquakes and tsunamis and floods and fires — so, we are also trying to disaster-proof the judiciary,” she explained, saying this effort will result in “an automated system, nationwide, for more than 2,500 courts… in 750 locations.”
The EISP — which has drawn the attention of the House because of its P250,000-a-month consultant — is “key to reform” and “will really modernize the justice system,” Ms. Sereno said.
“It’s not just an IT encoding software or app. It involves 22 software applications that are to be integrated, and… we have to have disaster recovery sites so that when the central server, for example, is shut down, if Manila becomes flooded, the backup site is in Angeles. And if Angeles is hit, we have other recovery sites spread across all regions.”
Ms. Sereno also cited a P4.2-billion project that puts in place “a very sophisticated system of adjudication” which speeds up the process by automating certain procedures.
THE FUTURE
Ms. Sereno said she anticipates a future when, on one’s “mobile phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop, you can already understand the status of your cases.”
“And… with security protocols installed, your lawyers can even file cases online and pleadings online. That’s your future,” she said.
“So the future is a world where the best of technology can allow… litigants… the assurance that their cases are being handled fairly and according to the correct process,” she added.
“And you can also be assured that your lawyers are attending to your cases. Wala nang taguan (They will no longer be able to hide from you).”
ROBINSONS LAND Corp. (RLC) is aiming to develop up to two information technology (IT) parks within the next two to three years, a top official said.
“We hope to put up one or two more within the next two, three years,” RLC General Manager for the Office Buildings Division Faraday D. Go told reporters after the topping off ceremony for one of the company’s office buildings in Quezon City last week.
The Gokongwei-led firm currently has three IT parks, namely Bridgetown in Quezon City, Robinsons CyberGate in Mandaluyong, and Robinsons CyberGate in Davao. Office buildings in these IT parks typically host business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.
“It speeds up the PEZA process,” Mr. Go said, referring to the accreditation from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) that grants tax perks to locators. Other fiscal incentives include income tax holiday, tax and duty-free importation of raw materials, capital equipment, machineries and spare parts, among others.
Aside from office buildings, RLC’s IT parks also have residential, retail, and hospitality components. The 30-hectare Bridgetown, for instance, will have a Robinsons Mall and a hotel in the next 15 to 20 years of the estate’s development.
This year, the company is ramping up its office space portfolio with the opening of three buildings, aiming to end the year with 20 office buildings. With a gross leasable area of around 113,000 square meters (sq.m.), this will bring RLC’s inventory to 518,000 sq.m. by the end of the year, 28% higher than its 2017 figure of 405,000 sq.m.
RLC is banking on the BPO sector to continue driving demand in the coming years.
In its 2018 property forecast, real estate consulting services firm Colliers Philippines said BPO firms are expected to take up at least 450,000 sq.m. of office space in 2018. This is half of the 900,000-sq.m. office space inventory expected to be added to the Metro Manila stock for the year.
The office segment contributed P2.14 billion to RLC’s total revenues for the first three quarters of 2017, or a share of 14%.
RLC posted a net income attributable to the parent of P4.57 billion in the first nine months of 2017, slightly higher than the P4.5 billion it generated in the same period in 2016, amid a 2% dip in revenues to P16.6 billion during the period. — Arra B. Francia
TREASURY BONDS (T-bonds) on offer tomorrow are seen to fetch higher yields to track the rates of US Treasuries and after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) adjusted its inflation forecast.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) plans to raise as much as P20 billion at Tuesday’s auction of fresh 20-year T-bonds set to mature on Feb. 22, 2038.
A bond trader said in a phone interview that banks will likely request for higher returns from the government amid higher US Treasury rates.
“I expect yields to go higher because US Treasuries moved higher as well. It will be 20 basis points higher, 6.6-6.8%,” the trader said.
During Friday’s morning session, US benchmark 10-year Treasury notes jumped to 2.884% from 2.8804% following upbeat US housing and import prices data.
Housing starts, or new homes to be constructed, rose by 9.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.326 million units last month. The January figure was the highest level since October 2016.
US import prices also grew 1% in January, boosting expectations of a rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, another trader said through text message: “I’m hearing from 6.5-6.75% range. I doubt BTr will issue at those levels. They will look desperate if they do,” adding that the Treasury may consider awarding at a coupon rate of 6.25% should there be enough volume.
At the secondary market on Friday, the 20-year Treasury bonds fetched a rate of 6.4568%.
Meanwhile, at the government’s last auction of 20-year papers last July 25, 2017, it rejected all bids for the reissued bonds with a remaining life of 19 years and 10 months.
Had the government accepted the bids at that auction, it would have accepted an average rate of 5.244%, 20.9 basis points higher from the 5.0356% rate seen in the previous auction. The T-bonds on offer then were also undersubscribed, attracting only P11.202 billion in tenders versus the government’s P15-billion offer.
On the demand side, the trader expects that there will be less demand for the T-bonds auction tomorrow after the BSP revised its inflation forecast for the next two years.
“I guess there’s not much demand for long-end bonds [at the moment, especially] with the recent re-evaluation of inflation expectations,” the trader added.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas raised its inflation outlook for 2018 to 4.3% from 3.4% — above the 2-4% target. It likewise hiked the 2019 forecast to 3.5% from 3.2%.
The trader said the revised inflation outlook “points to possible more rate hikes than initially thought.”
The Treasury said it plans to auction off P120 billion worth of Treasury bills and another P120 billion worth of Treasury bonds in the January to March period.
The total amount the government intends to borrow from the local market is higher than the P200 billion it offered in the last quarter of 2017.
The government borrows from local and foreign sources to fund its budget deficit, which for this year is capped at 3% of the country’s gross domestic product.
The government targets a P888.23 billion gross borrowing plan this year. — K.A.N. Vidal
SAN MIGUEL Pure Foods Company, Inc. (SMPF) is on track to complete a new manufacturing facility that will produce ready-to-eat products in Laguna by the first quarter of 2019.
In a statement issued over the weekend, SMPF said the Sta. Rosa, Laguna facility will produce products thataddress the demand for convenience as well as capture a larger chunk of the consumer market.
“Once operational, it will produce fully cooked viands and heat-and-serve meals that will serve growing consumer demand for convenient, nutritious meals differentiated by home-cooked taste, rich quality, and the highest levels of food safety,” the company said.
The new facility also looks to serve the operational needs of food service clients, alongside the export of products that will be ready for consumption.
SMPF has already secured incentives from the Board of Investments for the 20,000-square meter facility. The company will be employing local businesses, farmers, and animal growers, in line with the Department of Trade and Industry’s inclusive business program, that will create an integrated supply chain.
Last year, the company said it is setting aside P56 billion in capital expenditures over the next three years for the construction of six feed mills, grain terminals, poultry processing plants, processed meat plant, and chicken processing facilities, among others.
The company is merging with beverage businesses of its parent, San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
In November 2017, SMC announced it will consolidate its traditional businesses under one unit through a P336.35-billion share swap deal. The resulting entity would be called San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. (SMFBI), which will then have a market capitalization of $12 billion.
The company was able to secure shareholder approval for the merger in January.
SMFBI is slated to conduct a $1.5-billion follow-on offering later this year in order to increase its public float to the minimum requirement of 15%. After the merger of SMPF with San Miguel Brewery, Inc. and Ginebra San Miguel, Inc., SMFBI will have a public float of only 4.3%, the company said.
SMC recorded a net income attributable to the parent of P20.9 billion in the January to September 2017 period, 19% lower than the same period in 2016, despite a 19% uptick in revenues to P596.9 billion.
On the other hand, SMPF’s attributable profit rose 25% to P4.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2017, after a 4% increase in revenues to P84.5 billion for the period. — Arra B. Francia
YIELDS on government securities (GS) climbed last week to track movements in US Treasuries, as well as increased expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike due to the upbeat US January inflation print.
On average, GS yields — which move opposite to prices — were up by 13.76 basis points (bps) week on week, data from the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. as of Feb. 15 showed.
“GS yields rose [last] week still because of US rate hike expectations, which were further bolstered by January’s better-than-expected US inflation report,” Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) market economist Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan said via e-mail.
Security Bank Corp. Head of Institutional Sales Carlyn Therese X. Dulay shared the same sentiment, saying “global yields continued to head north on better US CPI (Consumer Price Index) [last] week,” while on the local front, Ms. Dulay said “yields caught up on fair pricing due to the unexpected January CPI print at 4%.”
Late last week, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that CPI came in at 0.5% in January, higher than market expectations.
Meanwhile, a local bond trader interviewed last Thursday said “bonds tracked the move of US Treasuries with global interest rates rising on inflation concerns.”
“Higher [US Treasury bonds] also put market participants on the defensive though bids may firm up [this] week after the surprise Reserve Requirement Cut on Thursday,” Ms. Dulay said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday announced an “operational” adjustment in the reserve requirement ratio, which was reduced by one percentage point. This, according to BSP, will support the central bank’s shift toward a more market-based implementation of monetary policy as well as its broad financial market reform agenda.
At the secondary market on Thursday, in the short end of the curve, the yield on the 91-day Treasury bills (T-bills) increased by 7.42 bps to 2.7847%. The 182- and 364-day T-bills also increased by 13.57 bps and 35.31 bps to yield 3.0068% and 3.2796%, respectively.
In the belly, the yield on the seven-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) increased the most, rising 27.67 bps to 6.4571%. Meanwhile, the rates of the two- and five-year T-bonds increased by 19.57 bps (4.1109%) and 5.70 bps (4.9763%), respectively. On the other hand, the three- and four-year debt papers saw their yields decline by 9.06% (4.2793%) and 25.75 bps (4.7489%), respectively.
In the long end, the 10-, and 20-year bonds saw their rates increase by 17.57 bps and 45.55 bps to 6.7089% and 6.4568%, respectively.
For this week, Landbank’s Mr. Dumalagan said: “There might be sideways movement in yields next week due likely mixed US economic reports and amid scarcity of economic data releases in the Philippines and in other countries outside of the US.”
“Producer prices in the US are expected to rise at a faster pace, tracking [last] week’s strong headline inflation data and lending support to views of another US interest rate hike in March 2018. The rise in yields, however, might be tempered by likely softer US reports on manufacturing, services, and housing,” Mr. Dumalagan added.
For her part, Security Bank’s Ms. Dulay, said: “Expect yields to continue to range as UST (US Treasury) levels remain choppy and ahead of the 20-year auction scheduled [this] week.”
The Bureau of the Treasury plans to raise as much as P20 billion at Tuesday’s auction of fresh 20-year T-bonds. — Ranier Olson R. Reusora
THE Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) will finally have a unified trading floor today, as it moves its operations to Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
The PSE’s new office building, called One Bonifacio High Street, stands 26-storeys high with a gross leasable area of 30,000 square meters. The tower forms part of the Ayala Land Premier’s mixed-use estate along 5th Avenue corner 28th Street.
Plans to transfer to BGC to establish a single headquarters for the PSE started back in 2012, when the exchange inked a deal with Ayala Land, Inc. for the purchase of new office spaces in the rising financial district.
“As we move to our new office at the Bonifacio Global City, we shall embark on recording new history for the stock market and for our country,” PSE Chairman Jose T. Pardo said during the last closing bell at the Ayala Tower One trading floor.
Prior to moving to One Bonifacio High Street, the PSE had two separate trading floors located in the PSE Tektite Building in Ortigas Center, and Ayala Tower One in Makati City.
The PSE Tektite Building was occupied by traders of what was formerly the Manila Stock Exchange. Founded in 1927, the first equities market in the country originally held office in Insular Life Building on Plaza Cervantes, Binondo, Manila.
On the other hand, traders at the PSE Ayala were from the Makati Stock Exchange, which was established much later in 1963. These traders conducted their business at the Insular Life Building in Makati, before moving to the Ayala Tower in 1971.
While both exchanges traded the same stocks of the same companies, there were discrepancies in their prices, prompting then President Fidel V. Ramos to intervene and launch efforts to unite the two exchanges.
With this, the PSE was established on July 14, 1992. Five months later on Dec. 23, the Manila and Makati Stock Exchanges were merged as one. It is only today, however, that the two trading floors would be physically united under one roof.
“A united exchange has always been a goal and finally we have achieved it. Hopefully it will be more cost efficient,” Regina Capital Development Corp. President Marita Limlingan said.
Ms. Limlingan, however, noted that the two exchanges were already unified prior to the transfer through technology.
“Unification to me is more symbolic because are actually united through technology,” she said.
In preparation for the transfer of its offices to BGC, the PSE last week held the final ceremonial ringing of the closing bell at the Tektite and Ayala towers. The Ortigas offices were sold back to its developer, Philippine Realty and Holdings, Corp., while the PSE has yet to decide what to do with the Ayala offices.
“The move is symbolic of a move towards a united capital market. After the unification of the trading floors, the next step would be for PSE to complete its acquisition of the PDS group which would result in a one-stop market for various financial assets,” PNB Securities, Inc. President Manuel Antonio G. Lisbona said.
Aside from transferring to a new headquarters, the PSE is also working on its merger with the Philippine Dealing Systems Holding Corp. The move is seen to further strengthen the country’s capital markets as it achieves synergies in operations.
