Setting up businesses now easier, faster – SEC

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving to a fully online and paperless company registration process, making setting up a business in the country easier and faster.

The SEC said that applicants for company registration would no longer have to submit hard copies of physically signed or notarized registration documents, following its issuance of Memorandum Circular 3, Series of 2024, requiring the use of SEC Zuper Easy Registration Online (ZERO) for company registrations.

An application under the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Company (eSPARC), SEC ZERO eliminates the need for physical signatures and notarization as well as the submission of hard copies of registration documents.

The system is integrated with the Electronic SEC User Registration Environment (eSECURE), which credentials users before they can access online services of the SEC, and the Electronic Submission Authentication Portal (eSAP), which makes use of one-time passwords (OTPs) to electronically authenticate SEC-required documents.

Since its launch in July 2024 as part of the commission’s third wave of digital initiatives, SEC ZERO has facilitated the registration of a total of 1,874 companies.

SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino said SEC ZERO exemplifies the commission’s commitment to digitalization and sustainability.

“By allowing companies to authenticate their registration documents online, company registration can now be done any time and anywhere,”Aquino said.

“The credentialing process through eSECURE, plus authentication through eSAP, further enable us to filter out scheming individuals wanting to use the corporate vehicle to defraud the public. With this, those registering corporations are identified and can be held accountable, if need be,” he said.

The SEC said that all domestic stock corporations, excluding lending and financing companies, would be processed through SEC ZERO starting April 7, 2025.

Corporations covered include those that are fully owned by Filipinos or those with foreign equity.

The SEC said that lending companies, financing companies and foreign corporations, meanwhile, would use the regular processing under eSPARC for three months after the effectivity of the memorandum circular.

Thereafter, the mandatory use of SEC ZERO shall apply to all types of corporations, it said.