PSE orders listed firms to file governance survey

MANILA, Philippines - The operator of the country’s stock market is requiring all listed firms to submit a corporate governance survey in line with efforts to protect the investing public.

In a memorandum, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) reminded all listed companies to submit the accomplished Corporate Governance Guidelines Disclosure for 2013.

“The Disclosure Survey is under a ‘comply or explain’ regime wherein listed companies are required to affirm their compliance with the best practice recommendations indicated under each regime,” the PSE said.

The companies are also tasked to explain the reason for non-compliance or mention any alternative action or variation they have chosen to adopt.

The Corporate Governance Guidelines Disclosure Survey should be turned in to the PSE on or before March 31.

“Submissions shall be done via the Electronic Disclosure Generation Technology (EDGE) system wherein the accomplished surveys shall be attached to the corresponding template,” PSE said. PSE EDGE replaced the online disclosure system where disclosures are submitted online in PDF format.

PSE EDGE, the new online disclosure system of the local bourse, was designed and developed by the Korea Exchange. It contains company profiles, stock data and other listing and disclosure announcements, among others.

The PSE said the survey “will be used as a basis for screening listed companies under the phase one evaluation process for the PSE Bell Awards for Corporate Governance.”

The Bell Awards, now on its third year, will recognize 10 listed companies (five awardees and five runners-up) and 12 trading participants (six awardees and six runners-up) that took efforts to safeguard the investing public.

In November, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., China Banking Corp., Manila Electric Co., Manila Water Co. Inc. and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. were recognized for their good corporate governance practices.

For trading participants, Bell Awards recipients were A.T. de Castro Securities Corp., BDO Securities Inc., COL Financial Group Inc., Maybank ATR Kim Eng Securities Inc., R.S. Lim and Co. Inc. and Salisbury BKT Securities Corp.

In 2010, PSE launched the framework on the non-mandatory good corporate standards, giving public companies a tool to monitor their compliance to good corporate governance practices.