PSE eyes new set of ETFs next year

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) plans to facilitate the introduction of a new set of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) next year, its top official said.

The new products will provide more engine to drive the growth of these PSE next year after a strong performance in 2013, said PSE president and CEO Hans Sicat.

“We are endeavoring to turn in more products and services next year. We will tweak ETF rules so we have different types, a wider set,” he said.

Early this month, the Metrobank Group’s First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) completed the listing of the country’s first ETF, broadening the choice for both retail and institutional investors particularly at a time when the stock market is expected to continue growing.

FMIC earlier said it is looking at introducing fixed-income ETF and commodity ETFs. ETFs are securities and investment instruments that monitor a commodity of assets like an index fund but trades like a normal stock in an exchange.

Other products in the works are derivatives that will be offered in the Philippines, Sicat said.

The PSE and Singapore Stock Exchange recently launched the Philippines-linked derivatives products.

For service delivery, the local bourse committed to improve its disclosure engine through PSE EDGE, Sicat said.

The new disclosure system will use electronic templates “so that disclosure information can be easily integrated real-time, upon release to the public, in various systems such as the PSE website and trading terminals, and the systems of data vendors and analysts,” the PSE said.