BIZ BUZZ: Lim’s stressful SEC debut

Francis Lim has survived his first year as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). His verdict?

“Both exciting and stressful,” Lim told reporters when asked to sum up his first year at the corporate regulator.

The stress, he said, came partly from wanting to accelerate the transformation of the Philippine capital market. Not everyone welcomed the changes, either.

“There’s a lot of positive comments about what we’ve done. Of course, as usual in a democracy, there’s always some resistance,” Lim said.

Still, the SEC chair appears pleased with what his team has accomplished, crediting his fellow commissioners for helping push through the regulator’s reform agenda.

And it has been a busy first year.

The SEC imposed stricter processing timelines and a “deemed approved” policy for applications not acted upon beyond prescribed periods.

It also slashed fees for corporate document requests, resulting in nearly P263 million in discounts as of July.

On the capital-market side, Lim’s first year saw the rollout of a five-year shelf registration framework, tiered minimum public ownership requirements, expanded rules for real estate investment trusts, Sukuk regulations and Southeast Asia’s first Green Equity Guidelines.