PSE one of SE Asia’s top performing firms

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) is one of the best performing listed firms in Southeast Asia based on a regional corporate governance ranking system.

In a statement, the operator of the Philippines’ only stock exchange said it was named as one of the top 50 best performing firms in the 2013 ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) for Publicly-Listed Companies.

The ACGS is a corporate governance rating scheme designed to raise the corporate governance standards of ASEAN countries.

“The inclusion of the PSE in the top 50 best performing listed companies in the ACGS is an affirmation that we are on the right track in terms of our corporate governance efforts,” said PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat.

The local bourse recognizes listed companies and trading participants adhering to high standards of corporate governance through the annual PSE Bell Awards.

“We will endeavour to improve on the good governance initiatives that we already have and see what additional policies we need to adopt to be at the forefront of corporate governance in the country and the region,” Sicat said.

Public firms were rated by ACGS based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Principles of Corporate Governance.

The ACGS is a joint initiative of the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum and the Asian Development Bank as part of the ASEAN Capital Market Integration Plan in 2015.

Aside from the Philippines, other countries that participated in the ACGS are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Sicat said the PSE is improving corporate governance amid issues that hounded the market and even the country in the past.

“We think we can still improve on our ranking as we introduce more reforms both for our company and the market as a whole,” Sicat said.

For instance, the PSE created a few years ago the Capital Market Integrity Corp. to enhance its monitoring and police functions.

The PSE was also recently awarded as the Best Stock Exchange in Southeast Asia. The organizers, Alpha Southeast Asia, cited the governance programs of the PSE as one of the more noteworthy accomplishments of the PSE in conferring the recognition.