The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has set new rules allowing brokerages to trade anonymously in a bid to attract more foreign investors and boost liquidity in the local equities market.

But the move, which comes as countries around the world pursue stricter regulation of financial markets and institutions after the global credit crisis exposed weaknesses in the financial system, raised concerns that local trading would become less transparent.

In a statement, PSE president Francis Lim said the new policy would align local trading activities with global best practices as a number of developed markets like the United States, Japan and Australia had adopted the practice of broker anonymity.

The policy was also in place in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China and Korea, Lim said.

Under the current system, brokers involved in matched transactions are identified through their codes on the PSE trading screens.

Lim said this practice impeded the flow of transactions as some big trades drew unwanted attention, encouraging brokers to undertake trades outside the market.

?Contrary to perceptions that taking out the broker identifier is a disservice to market players because it reduces transparency, broker anonymity actually promotes fairness and affords investors deeper market depth and liquidity,? he said.

Lim said the PSE?s surveillance department would continue to have access to broker identity data in case of a need to investigate or monitor illegal trading activity.

Lim said that with the new policy, purchases would be disclosed only if the transactions triggered limits prescribed under existing bourse rules.