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Robinsons Land ‘better prepared’ as REIT starts offer period

By Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte, Reporter

THE real estate investment trust (REIT) unit sponsored by Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) started its offer period on Wednesday, after securing a permit to sell from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

RL Commercial REIT, Inc.’s offer period will last until Sept. 3. Its initial public offering (IPO) comprises of 3.34 billion common shares owned by RLC, with an overallotment option of up to 305 common shares. It aims to raise as much as P23.5 billion.

RLC plans to use the proceeds from the initial public offering (IPO) of its real estate investment trust (REIT) unit to build more projects in all the businesses it currently engages in.

“They will be used specifically to build, number one, more office buildings; number two [and three], for our residential projects, both the vertical as well as our landed housing projects; number four, for our logistics and industrial facilities,” Frederick D. Go, chairman of RCR, and president and chief executive officer of RLC, said in a briefing on Wednesday.

He added that the proceeds will also be used for RLC’s destination estates, which include Bridgetowne in Quezon City and Pasig, Montclair Project in Pampanga, and Sierra Valley Gardens in Rizal.

“And of course, included there would be our land banking activities, as well as the construction of our malls and hotels,” said Mr. Go.

RCR is being branded as the largest REIT in the country. Its initial portfolio includes 14 commercial real estate assets with a combined gross leasable area (GLA) of 425,315 square meters (sq.m.), having an independently appraised value of P73.9 billion as of end-June.

The 14 RCR buildings are located in central business districts across Makati, Bonifacio Global City, Ortigas, Quezon City, and Mandaluyong as well as in key cities of Naga, Tarlac, Cebu, and Davao, making the offer the “most geographically diverse Philippine REIT.”

“I think the choice of the office REIT is primarily because the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry is the bedrock of our business and the BPO industry is an essential service industry and they continue to operate even during these difficult times, these challenging times,” Mr. Go said.

RCR pushed through with the listing even amid the pandemic, saying it waited for years to launch the product and it also noted market support for REIT listings.

“Last year, during the height of the lockdown… the business was extremely resilient even if we didn’t know anything about this virus,” Mr. Go said.

“We’re now so much better prepared to handle the virus so if we were resilient then, I believe we are so much more resilient today,” he added, expressing optimism on the progress of the country’s vaccination drive.

RLC has a potential infusion pipeline spanning around 422,000 sq.m. for RCR, the addition of which will be subject to market conditions and the approval of regulatory bodies, among others.

RCR said will be complying with the REIT law in terms of dividends. At its P6.45 per share offer price, the company said it has an implied 2022 dividend yield at 5.96%.

On Wednesday, shares of listed sponsor RLC at the stock market closed unchanged at P16.84 each for the third straight day.

PHL e-commerce seen to hit $15 billion by 2025

DESPITE its low penetration rate, the Philippines’ e-commerce sector is anticipated to jump in 2025, with gross merchandise value expected to reach $15 billion.

“The industry remains underpenetrated despite soaring sales,” said Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity’s Senior Research Analyst and Assistant Portfolio Manager Yi Ping Liao and Institutional Product Specialist Claus Born in an analysis e-mailed to reporters on Tuesday.

The e-commerce penetration rate in the Philippines is only 5%. The average penetration rate in Southeast Asia is 6%, with Singapore having the highest penetration rate of 14%, followed by Indonesia at 8%.

The country’s e-commerce market had an estimated gross merchandise value of $4 billion last year, when the coronavirus pandemic started to affect most of the industries.

“The e-commerce wave has altered the retail landscape, leaving many incumbents on the back foot. Physical department stores have lost market share,” the Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity team said.

“Multinational brands leveraging traditional distribution channels to dominate consumer spending have seen increasing competition from small and nimble local brands capturing demand online,” the team noted. “Besides conventional shopping platforms such as Lazada and Shopee…, livestreams and other social media channels have become new tools to win sales.”

The paper also said digital economies in the regions like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam offer “immense opportunities,” as they represent a huge addressable market with an overall gross domestic product of around $2 trillion.

Aside from e-commerce, two other areas of the region’s overall digital economy standout: financial technology (fintech) and gaming.

“Underbanked and cash-reliant populations have reeled in an array of fintech companies. Many offer e-wallets as a gateway to access a wider suite of financial products,” Ms. Liao and Mr. Born said.

They said the digital payment gross transaction value in the region could double to $1.2 trillion by 2025. It was $620 billion last year.

As for the gaming sector, the team said: “Successful games have found a global audience. Games are also evolving into social forums integrating chat functions and more modes of entertainment to boost user engagement and monetization potential.”

The region’s gaming market was valued at roughly $5 billion last year, and it is expected to grow to $13 billion by 2025.

Coronavirus travel restrictions “drew even more users to gaming, a pastime that could stick beyond the pandemic,” Ms. Liao and Mr. Born said.

“A flood of capital into Southeast Asia’s internet economy has minted unicorns across the private and public markets.”

“Several private companies have initial public offerings in sight. We expect a string of internet company listings to rejuvenate Southeast Asia’s equity universe, whose old-economy heavyweights have been overshadowed by North Asia’s technology giants,” the team added. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Colliers sees ‘confidence’ in Cebu office market

By Jenina P. Ibañez, Reporter

OUTSOURCING and traditional transactions in the Cebu office property market has been increasing in the first half in a segment where vacancy has remained stagnant, Colliers Philippines said.

Transactions in the first half of 2021 went up 142% to 19,000 square meters compared to the same six-month period last year. Broken down, 7,300 square meters (sq.m.) came from the traditional sector, while 6,200 came from the voice outsourcing sector.

Another 5,300 sq.m. came from the knowledge process outsourcing industry.

“Traditional and outsourcing firms became the stable demand drivers. So, this actually is a good indicator that there is already a bit of confidence in the market, and there’s already movement in the market because these companies have already taken up space,” Colliers Cebu General Manager Gerard Thomas S. Padriga said in a briefing on Wednesday.

“This positive outlook also translated to positive net take up for two consecutive quarters.”

Mr. Padriga said that the vacancy rate is at 21.7% in the first half of 2021, and Colliers is forecasting an increase to over 24%.

“This may be a cause of concern for some, but you have to understand that there is a net take up here of about 11,000 square meters for the first half,” he said.

“Definitely, the market has been starting to recover. There is already movement in terms of expansions and new setups.”

A Cebu outsourcing organization said last month that it expects to continue remote work arrangements for between two and five more years as it sought faster rollout of telecommunications services outside the capital.

Cebu IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management) Organization President Exuperto P. Cabataña said that 60-75% of outsourcing staff could be assigned to work remotely for the foreseeable future.

SEC describes role in regulating fintech as ‘delicate balancing act’

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) emphasized the two-fold role regulators play in promoting innovation in financial technologies (fintech), while keeping investors protected and ensuring market stability.

“It’s a delicate balancing act,” SEC Commissioner Kelvin Lester K. Lee said at the 15th Regional Leadership Program for Securities Regulators organized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore with independent nonprofit organization Toronto Centre on Monday.

“On one hand, as regulators we don’t want to stifle innovation. In fact, we want to encourage growth. But on the other hand, we need to be aware of the risks, some of which are very uncertain at this point, that may arise by allowing new innovations to operate,” he added.

Mr. Lee noted how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic put fintech innovations at the forefront, allowing individuals to have easier access to financial services even if there are restrictions in movement.

The SEC recognized that fintech and innovation now play an important part in the country’s economy, however, it keeps in mind the potential risks it comes with.

“We don’t want to unduly expose investors and the public, and the financial system to the risks that can be brought about by improperly vetted innovations,” Mr. Lee said.

The regulator’s newly launched Philifintech Innovation Office (PIO), an office under its Corporate Governance and Finance Department, will be taking on the responsibility of regulating fintech activities within the country.

The SEC aims to have an activity-based approach instead of an entity-based one when regulating fintech, as well as put up “principles-based” regulations. It aims to “remain technology neutral.”

The PIO wants fintech services to have room for growth through promoting an “innovative culture in the corporate sector.”

“Our aim is that through our innovation office, we can regularly touch base with our stakeholders, and we get to learn from each other,” Mr. Lee said.

The SEC said it is finalizing rules on digital asset exchanges, digital asset offerings, and online lending applications.

“Our approach at the commission is that we make every effort to keep an open mind to allow innovations to flourish without losing sight of our mandate to protect the investing public and secure our corporate and capital market sector,” Mr. Lee said. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

Yields on term deposits mixed on deficit data, Fed move bets

YIELDS ON THE central bank’s term deposits were mixed on Wednesday as the country recorded a narrower budget deficit and as market participants await clearer signals from the US Federal Reserve on its plan to cut its asset purchases.

Demand for the term deposit facility (TDF) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) amounted to P593.589 billion on Wednesday, higher than the P550-billion offer but lower than the P676.998 billion in tenders logged the previous week.

Broken down, bids for the one-week deposits stood at P169.137 billion, above the P150 billion auctioned off by the BSP but dropping from the P249.888 billion in tenders seen in the previous week’s offering.

Banks asked for yields ranging from 1.675% to 2.012%, a wider band compared with the 1.675% to 1.7388% logged last week. This caused the average rate of the seven-day term deposits to rise by 0.94 basis point (bp) to 1.7207% from 1.7113% previously.

Meanwhile, bids for the 14-day papers reached P424.452 billion, beyond the P400-billion offer but lower than the P427.11 billion in demand seen on Aug. 18.

Accepted rates for the tenor ranged from 1.6995% to 1.75%, slightly wider than the 1.7% to 1.745% band seen previously. With this, the average rate of the two-week term deposits slipped by 1.07 bps to 1.7167% from the 1.7274% quoted at last week’s auction.

The BSP did not offer 28-day term deposits for the 44th straight auction to give way to its weekly offerings of bills with the same tenor.

The term deposits and the 28-day bills are tools used by the BSP to mop up excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide market rates.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said TDF yields were mixed following the release of data showing the government recorded a lower budget gap in July due to slower spending.

Preliminary data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed the government’s fiscal deficit dropped 13.57% to P121 billion last month from the P140.2-billion gap logged a year earlier. The July level was also 19.3% narrower than the P150-billion shortfall in June.

For the first seven months, the budget deficit widened by 19.5% to P837.3 billion from P700.6 billion in the comparable year-ago period.

Government spending in July inched up by 0.69% to P377.3 billion due to a high base. Meanwhile, revenue collections increased 9.2% to P256.1 billion, mainly on the back of a 10% rise in tax revenues.

Mr. Ricafort said the market was also waiting for news from the Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium, where US central bank officials could reveal more details regarding their plan to taper their pandemic-driven monthly asset purchases.

The gathering starts this Thursday and Fed President Jerome Powell will make his speech on Friday.

Based on the minutes of the Fed’s July policy meeting released last week, US central bankers largely expect to start reducing bond purchases within the year. — L.W.T. Noble with Reuters

ICTSI eyeing business opportunities in technology space

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter

ITNERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) is looking at business opportunities in the technology space as the global health crisis affecting industries continues, an official of the listed port operator said on Wednesday.

“We are, I mean at least at the terminal level, really looking at opportunities in the technology space,” ICTSI Executive Vice-President Christian Martin R. Gonzalez said at an online forum organized by the Makati Business Club.

“We are admittedly looking at opportunities also vertically, within the logistics sector, but we’ve also always been very careful not to compete with our customers,” he added.

In her analysis posted on the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) blog site, Yesim Elhan-Kayalar, advisor to the ADB’s Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, said that smart ports are needed for shipping to recover from the global health crisis.

“The good news is that many ports have already modeled the way forward, and local port authorities can look to the early adopters for examples that can be replicated,” she noted.

At the forum, Mr. Gonzalez spoke about how ICTSI is addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic crisis.

ICTSI manages itself based on the foundations built in the past, he pointed out.

Openness to innovation and new technologies, trusting the company’s system, hiring people who thrive in that system, and empathy are among ICTSI’s approaches to addressing the current crisis.

ICTSI recently reported an 89% increase in its second-quarter net income, exceeding its 2019 pre-pandemic performance.

The company’s net income for the second quarter was $118.2 million, up from $62 million in 2020 and $65 million in 2019.

Its attributable net income for the quarter climbed 98% to $106.6 million from $53.8 previously. Total revenues rose 28% to $447 million.

The results were driven by favorable market conditions and prudent actions taken by the company at the onset of the pandemic, ICTSI Chairman and President Enrique K. Razon, Jr. said in a statement.

New SDRs from IMF to boost Philippines’ reserves

BW FILE PHOTO
BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said the additional special drawing rights will boost the country’s foreign exchange buffers. — BW FILE PHOTO

THE PROVISION of special drawing rights (SDRs) worth $2.8 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will boost the country’s dollar buffers amid the crisis, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said.

“The BSP supports the IMF SDR allocation which will provide additional liquidity to member countries particularly during this period as efforts are exerted to address the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis,” Mr. Diokno said in a Viber message.

Mr. Diokno on Tuesday night confirmed that 1.958 billion SDRs were credited to the country’s SDR account on Aug. 23, Monday. This is equivalent to about $2.777 billion, based on a social media post by the IMF Asia and Pacific.

“We expect this to result in an increase in the country’s gross international reserves (GIR),” the central bank chief said.

“The newly allocated SDRs are reflected in the GIR until the National Government determines its use,” Mr. Diokno added.

IMF member countries are provided with SDRs — the fund’s unit of exchange backed by dollars, euros, yen, sterling and yuan — in proportion to their quota shares in the IMF. The SDR valuation is calculated daily and was at $1.41974 as of Aug. 24, based on the IMF website.

Mr. Diokno said the IMF allows its member countries to tap on their SDR allocation “to boost foreign exchange reserves and reduce reliance on debt, create space for countries to step up effort against the crisis and support reforms to the economy.”   

“IMF member countries can exchange their SDRs for hard currencies with other IMF members,” he said.

As of end-July, the country’s foreign exchange buffers stood at $107.2 billion, where $1.221 billion was in the form of SDRs.

At its end-July level, the country’s GIR is equivalent to 12.1 months of imports. It can also cover about 7.7 times the country’s short-term foreign debt based on original maturity and 5.1 times the short-term external debt based on residual maturity.

The country’s GIR reached an all-time high of $110.117 billion at end-2020. The BSP expects this to climb to $115 billion by end-2021.

The Institute of International Finance on Wednesday said the amounts of fresh SDRs allocated to IMF member countries are “too modest” to make a difference, but will likely be useful for a few markets that are facing external funding challenges.

“All in all, the SDR allocation is irrelevant for the global outlook but matters for small countries in distress,” it said in a note. — LWTN

US approves licenses for Huawei to buy auto chips — sources

US OFFICIALS have approved license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for China’s blacklisted telecom company Huawei to buy chips for its growing auto component business, two people familiar with the matter said.

Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, has been hobbled by trade restrictions imposed by the Trump administration on the sale of chips and other components used in its network gear and smartphones businesses. The Biden administration has been reinforcing the hard line on exports to Huawei, denying licenses to sell chips to Huawei for use in or with fifth-generation (5G) devices.

But in recent weeks and months, people familiar with the application process told Reuters the US has granted licenses authorizing suppliers to sell chips to Huawei for such vehicle components as video screens and sensors. The approvals come as Huawei pivots its business toward items that are less susceptible to US trade bans.

Auto chips are generally not considered sophisticated, lowering the bar for approval. One person close to the license approvals said the government is granting licenses for chips in vehicles that may have other components with 5G capability.

Asked about the automotive licenses, a US Department of Commerce spokesperson said the government continues to consistently apply licensing policies “to restrict Huawei’s access to commodities, software, or technology for activities that could harm US national security and foreign policy interests.”

The Commerce Department is prohibited from disclosing license approvals or denials, the person added.

A Huawei spokeswoman declined to comment on the licenses, but said: “We are positioning ourselves as a new component provider for intelligent connected vehicles, and our aim is to help car OEMs (manufacturers) build better vehicles.”

Citing threats to US national security and foreign policy interests, the US has gone to great lengths to slow the growth of Huawei’s key communications-related business.

After placing Huawei on a US Commerce Department trade blacklist in 2019, which banned sales of US goods and technology to the company without special licenses, the US last year ratcheted up restrictions to limit the sale of chips made abroad with US equipment. It also campaigned to get allies to exclude Huawei from their 5G networks over spying concerns. Huawei has denied the allegations.

Huawei reported its biggest ever revenue drop in the first half of 2021, after the US restrictions drove it to sell a chunk of its once-dominant handset business and before new growth areas have fully matured.

Underscoring the shift into smart cars, the company’s rotating chairman Eric Xu announced pacts with three state-owned Chinese carmakers, including BAIC Group, to supply “Huawei Inside,” a smart vehicle operating system, at the Shanghai Auto Show earlier this year.

In another sign of Huawei’s ambition in the space, after suppliers have received licenses authorizing the sale of tens of millions of dollars of chips to Huawei, the company has requested they apply again and request higher values such as one or two billion, one source said. Licenses are generally good for four years.

Richard Barnett, chief marketing officer at a global electronics consultancy called Supply Frame, said Huawei is in the “early innings” of trying to invest in the $5-trillion automotive market that has large potential growth both inside and outside of China.

“Cars and trucks are now computers on wheels,” said Mr. Barnett, “That convergence is what’s driving Huawei’s strategic focus to be a bigger player in that area.” — Reuters

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies after tour pull out

DRUMMER Charlie Watts performs during the kick-off show of the Rolling Stones’ No Filter concert tour at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, US, June 21. — REUTERS/DANIEL ACKER

LONDON —  Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, widely regarded as one of the coolest men in rock, a jazz enthusiast and a snappy dresser, died on Tuesday just three weeks after pulling out of the band’s upcoming US tour for health reasons.

He was 80 years old.

“It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts. He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family,” Mr. Watts’ spokesperson said in a statement.

Among the first British bands to properly crack the American market and a symbol of 1960s London, the Rolling Stones lineup of Mr. Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, and Bill Wyman produced a string of hit records. The Stones also went on to break records with multimillion-pound grossing global tours.

Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr described Mr. Watts as a “beautiful human being” and said he was shocked by Mr. Watts’ death.

“I knew he wasn’t doing well, but it was a shock to me,” Mr. Starr, who joined the Beatles in Aug. 1962, five months before Mr. Watts became a member of the Rolling Stones, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview after Mr. Watts’ death.

Mr. Watts played drums on all of the group’s 30 albums and on every tour. No cause of death was given for his passing, but the announcement followed an Aug. 4 statement by the band that the drummer was pulling out of its rescheduled No Filter US tour because he needed time to recuperate after an unspecified emergency medical procedure.

Bandmates had expected Mr. Watts to rejoin the band. “We really look forward to welcoming Charlie back as soon as he is fully recovered,” Mr. Jagger tweeted on Aug. 4. After the death of Mr. Watts was announced, Mr. Jagger tweeted an image of the joyful drummer while Keith Richards posted a photo of a drum set without adding any words.

Disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the No Filter tour is scheduled to kick off on Sept. 26 in St. Louis. There was no word on Tuesday whether it would go ahead. The death of Mr. Watts brought tributes from musicians ranging from Paul McCartney to country singer Rosanne Cash.

“Charlie Watts was the ultimate drummer,” Elton John posted on Twitter. “The most stylish of men, and such brilliant company.”

Mr. McCartney sent condolences in a video message. “I knew he was ill but I didn’t know he was this ill… It’s a huge blow to them because Charlie was a rock and a fantastic drummer.”

Mr. Watts was born in 1941 during World War II and grew up in the Wembley area of northwest London, attending Harrow school of Art before starting work as a graphic artist with an advertising agency.

Unlike his bandmates, Mr. Watts had been in a successful group before agreeing to join the Rolling Stones in 1963. He married Shirley Ann Shepherd in 1964 and they remained together until his death —  the first regular member of the band to pass away since Jones in 1969.

While holding down the day job, Mr. Watts played in the evenings with Blues Incorporated led by Alexis Korner, alongside future Cream bassist Jack Bruce. He was replaced by future Cream drummer Ginger Baker when he left.

He played his first gig with the Stones at the Ealing Blues Club in West London with the six-piece band that included pianist Ian Stewart, Wyman on bass, and Jones on guitar.

Mr. Watts left the hell-raising that defined the Stones in the 1960s and ’70s to the other members, but provided the heartbeat of the band, and with Wyman was considered one of the great rock rhythm sections.

Away from the Rolling Stones, Mr. Watts found the time to play jazz with several groups including a 32-piece band, the Charlie Watts Orchestra, as well as to work with pianist Stewart in the band Rocket 88 during the 1980s.

In the 1990s, the Charlie Watts Quintet released several albums, including a tribute to jazz great Charlie Parker. In 2004, the quintet expanded to become Charlie Watts and the Tentet.

‘DIDN’T SUIT ME AT ALL’
While his bandmates entertained groupies on an epic scale, Watts indulged instead —  he once told a radio interviewer —  in a compulsive habit of sketching every new hotel room he occupied.

He did speak of a short period in the 1980s when he tried to deal with a mid-life crisis by bingeing on drink and drugs. “It was very short for me. I just stopped, it didn’t suit me at all,” he told the Daily Mirror newspaper in 2012.

“I drank too much and took drugs. I went mad really. But I stopped it all. It was very easy for me.”

In 2004, he was diagnosed with throat cancer after having quit smoking in the late 1980s, and underwent radiation therapy. The cancer went into remission, and he returned to recording and touring with the Stones.

Despite newspaper accounts of a drunken spat with Mr. Jagger in the 1980s over whether the singer or the drummer was more important to a group, Mr. Watts was in a magnanimous mood when he spoke to the Guardian newspaper in 2013.

“Mick is the show, really, we back him,” he said, adding however, “but Mick wouldn’t dance well if the sound was bad.”

Mr. Watts was always known as a keen shopper and a snappy dresser. The Daily Telegraph once named him one of the World’s Best Dressed Men and in 2006 Vanity Fair inducted him into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

“It’s supposed to be sex and drugs and rock and roll,” he once said. “I’m not really like that.” — Reuters

Basic Energy auctions delinquent shares

BASIC Energy Corp. has completed the public auction of 22.5 million delinquent shares from three lots, the De Venecia-led listed firm said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The auction, which took place on Aug. 23, saw the successful bidding and sale of shares belonging to lots 1, 2 and 3 — each comprised of 7.5 million shares.

“[However], a failure of bid was declared for Lot 4 consisting of 450,000,000 shares by reason of no bidders,” Basic Energy said.

The public auction sought to bid out a total of 472.5 million shares, which were tagged as delinquent.

The company provided no further details on the auction’s winning bidders.

In a disclosure filed on June 29, the firm said that its board unanimously approved of the delinquent status of 472.5 million unpaid private placement shares. These shares are to be bid out in an auction sale in line with the rules under the Revised Corporation Code.

Earlier this month, Basic Energy postponed the auction sale after the government placed Metro Manila under a stricter quarantine restriction between Aug. 6 and Aug. 20 to curb the fresh surge of coronavirus disease cases believed to have been brought about by the Delta variant.

Basic Energy earlier reported an attributable net loss in the second quarter of P18.36 million, reversing its net income of P13.12 million in the same period last year.

On its website, the firm said it aims to be a “major Philippine company engaged in the exploration, production, and supply of alternative and renewable energy, oil and allied products and services.”

Shares in Basic Energy at the local bourse inched down 3.28% or two centavos to finish at P0.59 apiece on Wednesday. — Angelica Y. Yang

First Gen unveils online ESG platform

FIRST Gen Corp. has launched its online environment, social and governance (ESG) platform which summarizes the firm’s approach to sustainability.

“By pioneering this effort, we are early adopters of a transparent, comprehensive and real-time platform to share our company-wide ESG commitments. While this summarizes our ESG efforts, we also plan to use this as a tool to benchmark against international best practices,” said Valerie Dy Sun-Lim, the finance vice-president and head of First Gen’s investor relations department.

The company’s ESG profile can be found on its website under the “Investor Relations” tab. The database allows stakeholders to review First Gen’s ESG practices, the firm said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday. Viewers can download ESG-related reports from the portal.

The Lopez-led company said it partnered up with global investor relations firm Churchgate Partners for the project.

“[First Gen’s] profile succinctly captures the multiple ESG touch points being implemented across the firm, management’s commitment to long-term sustainability and the highly impactful nature of the underlying business as a clean fuel independent power producer,” said Sumir Bhardwaj, chairman of Churchgate Partners.

First Gen holds 3,495 megawatts of installed capacity in its portfolio, which compromises of 19% of the country’s gross generation. It generates power from its natural gas, geothermal, hydro, wind and solar facilities.

It earlier reported a second-quarter attributable net income to its parent firm of $62.50 million, lower by around 8% versus the $67.74 million previously, amid the public health emergency.

Shares of First Gen at the local bourse improved by 1.03% or 30 centavos to finish at P29.30 apiece on Wednesday. — Angelica Y. Yang

Bankers back bill punishing use of financial accounts in cybercrime

THE BANKERS Association of the Philippines (BAP) urged Congress to pass a measure to regulate bank accounts and e-wallets from potential cybercrime.

“There has been a rise in the number of cybercrimes perpetuated against the banking public, thus there is a need to ensure that criminals are held accountable for what they have done,” BAP President Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said the measure will expand the government’s capability in fighting cybercriminals by punishing the usage of financial accounts for criminal activities. 

Mr. Veloso added that the BAP is open to working with Congress on possible amendments to the bill.

“We welcome opportunities to provide inputs to our legislators as to how we can further strengthen this bill. The BAP is willing to work with the necessary stakeholders to ensure the safety of every Filipino who conducts financial transactions online,” he said.

House Bill 9615 or the Bank Account and E-Wallet Regulation Act seeks to make acts such as using money mules, phishing, and economic sabotage punishable under law.

Under the bill, a money mule is defined as a “person who electronically receives, acquires, or transfers money, funds, or proceeds derived from phishing or other cybercrime.”    

Persons found guilty of using money mules or phishing shall be punished with imprisonment of up to 12 years or a fine of at least P100,000 but not exceeding P500,000. 

Meanwhile, those found guilty of economic sabotage would face life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P1 million but not more than P5 million.

The bill was filed by Quirino Rep. Junie E. Cua, chair of the House Committee on Banks And Financial Intermediaries, on June 14 and is still pending at the committee level. — Russell Louis C. Ku

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