SEC recognized for efforts in easing business process

MANILA, Philippines —  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been recognized by the Asia CEO Awards for its service improvements, particularly ease of doing business efforts.

Among the SEC initiatives is the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Company (eSPARC), which allows for an easier and faster company registration process.

The automation of the registration process helped grow the number of newly registered domestic corporations and partnerships by 50.5 percent and 33.5 percent, respectively, in 2021.

The SEC was  named Airspeed Service Excellence Company of the Year in the 13th installment of the Asia CEO Awards held last Oct. 11 at the Manila Marriott Hotel.

Asia CEO Awards recognized the SEC for its role in raising service level standards to its stakeholders and the overall development of the Philippine business sector.

SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino welcomed the recognition, adding that it has always been at the forefront of devising new programs that would make transacting with the regulator easy and hassle-free.

“These programs serve to further the growth of our corporate sector as we move to a digital-first world, while ensuring that our stakeholders can adapt to such changes,” Aquino said.

Winners of the award were chosen based on service level improvements and advancements made by the organization to enable business expansion.

Over the past two years, the SEC has rolled out several other programs under its digital transformation program to further improve the ease of doing business in the country and spur the growth of domestic enterprises.

Since its launch in April 2021, the SEC’s eSPARC system has so far processed 95,163 applications for company registration.

The SEC has also launched Electronic Filing and Submission System (eFAST), which allows companies to digitally submit their audited financial statement, general information sheet, and other reportorial requirements.

In total, eFAST had already received 439,165 reports as of Sept. 16.

Another initiative, the Electronic System for Payments to SEC (eSPAYSEC) facilitates the online payment of registration fees, charges, penalties and other transaction fees  using debit and credit cards, digital wallets, and other cashless payment options.

Since its launch, eSPAYSEC has recorded a total of 37,639 online payment transactions and collected P256.82 million in fees and penalties, averaging at P15.2 million per month from March 2021 to August 2022.

The SEC will launch more digitalization programs including an online search portal, a registry system for the accreditation of external auditors and auditing firms, a system for integrated compliance monitoring, evaluation and enforcement, a system for stress testing for capital market intermediaries, and a complaints management system.