PSE up for major reorganization

A changing of the guard looms at the Philippine Stock Exchange as part of a system-wide reorganization meant to brace itself for what appears to be an imminent but challenging merger with Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDS Group).

Well-placed sources said that ex-investment banker Hans Sicat was set to bow out after his six-year term as PSE president and chief executive officer to take on a new role as the “chief integration officer.” He will work on sealing the PSE-PDS merger deal and executing a seamless unification of the country’s capital market infrastructure.

If and when the deal will be closed, industry sources said the PSE was keen on naming Sicat as the new CEO of PDS Group, the holding firm for fixed-income trading platform Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx), Philippine Depositary and Trust Corp. (PDTC) and Philippine Securities Settlement Corp.

Sources further said that Ramon Monzon, one of the PSE’s independent directors, was now being groomed to assume the post to be vacated by Sicat.
The PSE is set to open the nomination to the board of directors in the coming weeks but the actual election of officers will happen during the first meeting of the new board after the annual stockholders meeting in May.

Monzon has been an independent director at PSE since May 2, 2015 and currently chairs the PSE’s audit committee. Having been “immersed” into the PSE in the last two years, he is seen suitable to be the next chief of the local bourse.

A certified public accountant, Monzon was a partner at SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co. He finished his BA degree major in Political Science at the Ateneo de Manila University and a BS degree major in Accounting from the Manuel L. Quezon University. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Chicago.

Top-level changes are likewise seen happening in key units of the PSE as part of a “system-wide reorganization and matching of talents,” said a top PSE source.

At the Securities Clearing Corporation of the Philippines (SCCP), former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Juanita Cueto has been appointed director and being groomed to assume the post of chief operating officer (COO), taking the place of Rene Rubio who is due for retirement.

At the Capital Markets Integrity Corp. (CMIC)—the market regulation unit that was spun off by the PSE into an independent entity with its own self-regulatory organization (SRO) status—the president, Cornelio Gison, has opted to step down to focus on concurrent work as a member of the board of trustees for Metrobank Foundation and Andrew Gotianun Foundation. Securities lawyer and CMIC consultant Daisy Arce is expected to take the place of Gison.

Twenty-five years after the unification of the Makati and Manila stock exchanges to create what is now the PSE, the local bourse is finalizing its renewed bid to take over PDS.