Philippines SEC Chair Francis Lim Drives Business Simplification and Capital Market Reforms

The Monday Circle forum last Monday, July 13 turned out to be not only an interesting but enriching session with the man who may just be able to reinforce investors’ confidence and fix our “lagging” capital market. That man is no other than Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Francis Ed. Lim. Having assumed office only in June 2025, Lim may have already accomplished what the agency could have done in the last 20 years for the promotion and development of the capital market. Like most of the Monday Circle’s membership, he was one of them long before being appointed as SEC chair. He served as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) from 2004 to 2010. During his six-year tenure in the PSE, he helped lead critical capital market policy reforms and launched key corporate governance initiatives. This included the legislation and introduction of the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to the Philippines. He also aided in the enactment of the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) Act to drive voluntary retirement savings and capital deployment. Under his leadership, he likewise spearheaded in the PSE the launching of the Maharlika Board good governance platform to incentivize listed companies to match regional, world-class transparency standards. It was a visionary initiative to boost market valuations through strict corporate governance. Unfortunately, it was eventually stymied. According to some claims, it was stifled by resistance from listed conglomerates and internal politics on the PSE board. Another that is also aligned to the advocacy of the Monday Circle was his effort on financial literacy. He initiated a long-term push to integrate mandatory financial literacy into high school and college curriculums. Must Read SEC chief Francis Lim wants youth, judiciary to understand how markets work After his stint in the PSE, Chairman Lim served as a senior partner and senior legal counsel at the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW), specializing in corporate law, bankruptcy, securities regulation, and litigation. During this period, he also held several prominent roles in the private sector and business community. Among others, he was law professor at the Ateneo de Manila University and San Beda University and served as president and trustee of the Shareholders Association of the Philippines or SharePHIL. This advocacy for investor protection is rooted in safeguarding minority shareholders, elevating corporate governance standards, and fostering financial literacy to build market trust. He championed the rights of retail and minority investors. Even back then, he advocated for fresh board composition and supported initiatives like capping the tenure of broker-directors to prevent the concentration of power and protect small investors from market manipulation. As SEC chair Upon assuming office, Chairman Lim aggressively rolled out sweeping operational updates and landmark regulatory changes, characterized by him last Monday as long overdue. The first is about “ease of doing business” with the agency. The program’s objective is focused heavily on removing bureaucracy, expanding digitalization, and dropping operational costs. It’s a bold agenda driven to eliminate unnecessary manual client follow-ups and reduce red tape. The program rolled out a real-time application tracking system and expanded the OneSEC (the One-day Submission and E-registration of Companies) online portal to guarantee faster, friction-free corporate registration and company record amendments. The OneSEC online portal was expanded from 30 to 83 business categories to prevent corruption, and reduced public offering review turnarounds to 35–40 days (under a strict 45-day cap). This was supported by the implementation of the a “deemed approved” rule for registrations. As a result, this led to the successful clearing of more than 26,000 backlogged corporate applications. Corollary to the move, the SEC moved to slash fees by 50% on critical document fees to lessen the financial entry barrier for new ventures and also froze some fees on regulatory processes to prioritize affordability and financial breathing room for emerging local enterprises. The move saved the public by over P110 million on registration fees and about P34 million on registration discounts to over 13,000 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Additionally, Lim created sector-specific capital market fast lanes, including SEC FARMS for agribusiness, SEC HOPES for healthcare, SEC POWERS for energy, and SEC RENT for real-estate-related offerings. Rebuilding market confidence Next is capital market development. This program is about the broadening of investor participation by introducing alternative financial products like options, futures, and commodity derivatives. Lim overhauled REIT beyond its traditional framework. He expanded the type of eligible assets to include infrastructure, ICT assets, energy assets, data centers, toll roads, airports, ports, and warehouses, helping pave the way for PLDT’s VITRO data center REIT IPO of up to ₱24.2 billion. [ANALYSIS] First of its kind: PLDT’s P24.2B data center REIT IPO Rules on public ownership limits were relaxed to temporarily allow a REIT’s public float to dip below the minimum public ownership requirement when a sponsor injects new income-producing assets in exchange for shares. However, the REIT must disclose the dip and submit a clear timetable to restore its public float. To further develop the market, Lim introduced the issuance of the Philippine Green Equity Guidelines, to help publicly listed companies attract sustainability-focused investors. A first of their kind in ASEAN, this certifies that a corporation’s core operations and investments are substantially aligned with credible, climate-positive economic activities. This enabled Maynilad and Alternergy to receive Philippine Green Equity labels. Lim initiated several structural reforms such as the issuance of SEC Memorandum Circular No. 10 (Series of 2025), mandating all listed firms to declassify their common shares, and scrap the obsolete Class A and Class B common share dual structures. The objective is to ease foreign investment entry and equalize investor voting power. And to curb corporate forgeries, he rolled out blockchain-based validation mechanisms for official documents. In rebuilding market confidence, Lim championed several systemic reforms. He has strictly implemented absolute term limits for independent directors to break up entrenched, decades-long board influence and prevent conflicts of interest. Independent directors are mandated to have a one-year term, subject to a maximum cumulative tenure of nine years i