Fixed income exchange gets fresh equity

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has infused P70 million with the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDS Group), the operator of the country’s only fixed income exchange.

PSE president and chief executive officer Francis Lim saide that the additional investment in the PDS Group is its contribution to the development of the Philippine capital markets.

“It also represents PSE’s strategic thrust to develop our capital markets, aside from giving long-term value to our shareholders,” Lim said during the signing ceremonies yesterday.

Castillo said that it represents a tighter collaboration between the two exchanges.

PDS Group provides the market infrastructure for the fixed-income market through its three operating units. Its electronic trading platforms are operated by the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) with a year-to-date volume of P1.21 trillion and an average daily volume of P5.7 billion.

Trading of government securities (GS) at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) has surpassed for the first-time the P1-trillion threshold for the year. The milestone brings the year-to-date volume to P1.003 trillion.

In 2006, total transaction volume reached P787.3 billion and the year before it was P432.4 billion.

PDS Group president and chief executive officer Vicente B. Castillo described yesterday’s results as an achievement and validation.

He said in a statement that “although getting to this point is a milestone in and of itself, what is more significant is that the numbers suggest that our markets are moving further and forward.”

The PDS Group is the parent company of the PDEx and includes the Philippine Depository and Trust Corp. (PDTC) and the Philippine Securities Settlement Corp. (PSSC).

Breaching the P1-trillion ceiling was achieved through marked improvements in several facets of trading activity. The most significant increase thus far is in average daily volume which is 64 percent above the figure for the whole of 2006.

“We are already 27 percent higher than the total for 2006 and the year-to-date figures are even more significant,” Cesar Brisol, PDEx president and chief operating officer, said.          – Ted Torres