Lim to leave PSE top post after five years

MANILA, Philippines - Five years after taking over the helm at the local bourse, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) president and chief executive officer Francis Lim has decided to leave the exchange effective Feb. 15, industry sources said.

PSE sources said Lim has opted not to finish his term, which expires in May this year after he learned his contract would not be renewed. He was the longest running president of the PSE since the exchange was demutualized or converted from a member-owned company into a shareholder-owned firm in August 2001.  

But other sources said Lim, who was a senior partner at the ACCRA Law Offices, has already sounded off plans to go back to private practice since late last year apparently due to fatigue.

The sources said Lim has expressed his willingness to relinquish his post as early as last year and even asked management to buy out his contract.

“There is nothing wrong. The PSE is just not renewing his contract. He said he would leave so we’re letting him go. He has served the bourse for more than five years and that’s not bad, “said a source who requested not to be named.

The same source said the PSE has already formed a search committee to help find a replacement for Lim in preparation for the annual elections of the PSE board of directors scheduled in May.

Lim, the seventh president under a unified exchange, had a love-hate relationship with stockbroker-directors allegedly due to his hardline efforts to further professionalize the exchange. 

Critics of Lim, however, complained about the PSE chief’s failure to immediately implement a PSE board resolution imposing a trading suspension on shares of a listed mining firm. 

The same source said PSE chairman Hans Sicat, a former investment banker, would serve as acting CEO while a replacement has yet to be picked.

“We’re taking our time to select a new president. We want someone who understands our business, someone who comes from the industry,” the source said, adding that the committee has yet to find possible suitable candidates.  

Some PSE observers, however, are speculating that Val Antonio B. Suarez, who is set to be appointed as chief operating officer of the PSE, would eventually be taking up the position to be vacated by Lim. Suarez is a managing partner of Suarez & Reyes (SURE) Law Offices, a professional law partnership specializing in corporate and securities law, corporate finance, business and investment advisory and tax consultancy.

Prior to assuming the chief executive position at the PSE, Lim served as an independent director representing the interest of capital market participants for two years. He was chairman of the bourse’s governance committee where

He implemented steps to eradicate the perception of the PSE as an “old boys club.”

Lim spearheaded work on key capital market reforms aimed at helping the country put in place a new legal framework that will help spur the development of the country’s capital markets. Among these bills are the Personal Equity Retirement Act (PERA), the Credit Information System Act (CISA), the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) law, Corporate Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act (CRIA) and the Documentary Stamp Tax Law.

The unprecedented PERA law seeks to encourage voluntary personal savings and investments to provide for one’s retirement while the CISA establishes the foundation for a comprehensive and centralized credit information system to be administered by the Credit Information Corp. (CIC). 

The CRIA, meanwhile, seeks to provide a framework which will encourage efficiency in the resolution of rehabilitation and insolvency cases and balance the competing rights of creditors and debtors. It will include a “first” in insolvency proceedings by including provisions governing out-of-court rehabilitation, which will become effective without court intervention in an effort to speed up the recovery of financially distressed companies.

Lim was also heavily involved in technical work leading to the crafting of the Securities Regulation Code.