2 members of PSE body quit over trading hours

Two members of the Philippine Stock Exchange’s floor trading and arbitration committee (FTAC) have resigned in disgust over the conduct of a new survey on trading hours.

FTAC chairman Eddie Gobing, an incumbent PSE director, and Elphege Wong tendered their irrevocable resignations last week in disagreement over the conduct of a new survey, which would change the trading hours of the bourse from either back to morning session only or with the option to extend the schedule by two hours in the afternoon.

Last week, PSE president Ernest Leung said the Exchange would do away with the inconvenient 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. afternoon extension and would instead let the members choose between a longer 9 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. straight morning session or extend it by an additional two hours from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., which is seen as more aligned to the trading schedule of the other major global markets.

However, Leung said if the member-brokers would choose to extend trading they may have the option to trade or not, and to do off-site trading as well, hence cutting down costs for the PSE.

But Gobing said as stated in a prior FTAC meeting on July 11, the Exchange members must adhere to a uniform trading schedule and not allow optional trading in the afternoon. "I have always believed that our industry is not much different from the banking industry in serving the public. One never heard of an instance where a bank had adopted a policy of not opening and serving its clients in the afternoon."

Wong added that in the same July 11 FTAC meeting with management, "I remember that the members of the FTAC made a unanimous decision not to allow optional trading in the afternoon."

But he said he was surprised when Leung authorized the survey with optional trading as a choice, since Leung was in the meeting and did not oppose the decision not to push through with optional trading.

"By his action, it made me feel that the FTAC had been rendered inutile. I therefore cannot continue to serve in a committee whose authority has been emasculated and become a useless entity," Wong said. – Conrado Diaz Jr.