SEC to ban unregistered foreign online stock, crypto trading platforms

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to ban unregistered foreign online stock and cryptocurrency trading platforms as it becomes stricter in their monitoring and regulation.  

This is according to SEC Commissioner Kelvin Lester Lee who is spearheading this move as the Supervising Commissioner of the Markets and Securities Regulation Department (MSRD) and the Information & Communications Technology Department (ICTD). 

Lee said several unregistered cryptocurrency and online trading platforms will soon be subject of advisories by the SEC with the aim of banning them from operating in the Philippines in order to protect investors and the public-at-large. 

“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,” he noted. 

Lee added that, “part of these efforts is to be strict in the agency’s regulatory function: we only allow 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," he also said. 

Meanwhile, Lee said the SEC has embarked on "Project 300" which is a campaign to increase the number of Publicly Listed Companies (PLCs) in the country by year 2025.  

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.  This year, three companies have already expressed interest in filing IPOs with the support and encouragement of the SEC," he said. 

This project is aligned with the 888@88 initiative of the SEC which was announced in 2021, where the Commission aims to have at least 888 companies that would have tapped the capital markets for their capital raising activities. 

This includes crowdfunding participants, hospitals and PDEX registered companies that raised capital through the capital markets.   

Lee said this is also why the SEC has taken steps to make it easier for companies to do their IPOs. For instance, the SEC commits that IPO registration will be completed within 45 days. 

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