PSE sets July 1 deadline to name prexy

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is working double time to appoint a new president on or before July 1 this year.

A source said the PSE board has deferred the appointment of a new president as it agreed to thoroughly review the qualifications of candidates to make sure that the next bourse president is highly suitable for the job.

"They wanted to name a new president but we decided against it until we are sure that we have come up with highly-qualified nominees,"the source said.

Among those being considered for the position are corporate lawyer Francis Lim of the ACCRA Law Offices, reportedly a nominee of the group of incumbent PSE chairperson Alicia Arroyo; Ambrosio Mangilit Jr., the executive vice-president of FGU Insurance Corp. and former Development Bank of the Philippines chairman Alfredo Antonio.

Mangilit has the support of PSE director and former PSE chairperson Vivian Yuchengco while Antonio is reportedly being backed by the group of Robert Coyiuto Jr.

The PSE board will hold a special meeting tomorrow to elect the replacement for outgoing PSE president Cayetano Paderanga, who resigned after being cited for conflict of interest for maintaining concurrent positions in two private firms.

Paderanga is currently president and chief executive of PNOC Development & Management Corp., a sister company of publicly-listed PNOC Exploration Co. He is also president of CIBI, a credit information bureau that collates business information for the private sector and publishes the list of the top 5,000 firms with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the Securities Regulation Code, the PSE president should not be a member and not associated in any capacity, directly or indirectly, with any broker, dealer or member, or listed company of the bourse.

Paderanga will relinquish his post as soon as a new president is named. He, however, remains as director of the exchange.