SEC readies rules on cross-border capital market research

As part of regional integration efforts, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is drafting the framework to enable capital market professionals in the Philippines to issue research reports elsewhere in Southeast Asia and vice versa for other analysts in the region.

The cross-border publication of research reports is expected to allow investors to gain greater access to information on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) capital market products, especially on Asean-listed equities.

In a notice issued on July 5, the SEC exposed for public comment the draft guidelines on the implementation of cross-border publication of research report under the Asean Capital Market Professional Mobility Framework.

Under the proposed guidelines, salespersons of broker dealers and/or investment houses, certified investment solicitors, key officers of fund managers and other professionals authorized by the SEC could issue research reports in other Asean countries that signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the matter.

Research personnel of licensed firms are required to apply for a license from the SEC to become salespersons or certified investment solicitors before they could issue or promulgate research reports for cross-border publication.

Capital market professionals from other Asean countries, meanwhile, must obtain the necessary license from their respective regulators and should have no pending disciplinary cases or convictions for certain offense to be allowed to publish research reports in the Philippines.

Authorized persons may issue or promulgate research reports only on shares, bonds, sukuk and units of collective investments schemes, including units of real estate investment trusts and of infrastructure funds.

Based on the framework, the research report for cross-border publication should have been produced by an authorized person attached to the licensed firm and made available to the comparable class of investors in the home jurisdiction as the class of investors for which the research report will be made available in the host jurisdiction.

In addition, the authorized person and the licensed firm in the home jurisdiction should be responsible for the content of the research report. The licensed firm must have given its consent to the hosting platform for the research report to be made available to investors in the host jurisdiction.

Moreover, the research report should include a disclaimer to investors stating that it is produced by the authorized person on behalf of the licensed firm and that the authorized person and licensed firm are subject to supervision by the regulator in the home jurisdiction.

The hosting platform, where an authorized person could publish a research report on Asean capital market products, could be the official website of the attached licensed firm of the authorized person, a common platform like the Asean Exchanges website and any other electronic or physical means.

SEC Chair Emilio Aquino had signed the MoU on cross-border publication of research reports under the Asean Capital Market Professional Mobility Framework with Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand last March 18. The MoU supports other initiatives by the Asean Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) such as the Asean Collective Investment Scheme and Asean Disclosure Standards and Streamlined Review Framework.

The SEC and the securities regulators of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore had also signed an MoU on the issuance of ACMF Pass to capital market professionals under the Asean Capital Market Professional Mobility Framework.