Good news for Pinoy enterprises: SEC now offers one-day registration
MANILA, Philippines — It will now take just one day for new businesses that are 100-percent owned by Filipinos to complete their registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In a bid to ease doing business in the country, the SEC has launched a new feature in its online company registration system that allows business applicants to complete the process in a single day.
Starting Sept. 15, domestic corporations may register with the SEC through the one-day submission and express registration of companies (OneSEC) feature of the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Company (eSPARC). OneSEC can be accessed via https://secwebapps.sec.gov.ph/application.
“OneSEC gives new businesses the means to easily comply with the Commission’s registration requirements, ensuring the continuity of our business sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” SEC Chair Emilio Aquino said in a press statement.
Average of 33 days
Previous processing time at the SEC was three days. As of 2019, it took an average of 33 days for an enterprise to complete the registration, including several layers of approval from social agencies, local governments, etc., compared to just two days in Singapore or Hong Kong, according to a World Bank report.
100% Filipino-owned
OneSEC will accept applications for the registration of 100-percent Filipino-owned domestic stock corporations whose common shares have a par value of not less than P1 and in nondecimal currency, and subscribed for through cash payment.
The corporation must have incorporators, directors and subscribers who are natural persons and residents of the Philippines. It must also have a perpetual corporate term of existence and located outside an economic zone.
The proposed corporate name must include a descriptor according to the corporation’s industry classification. It must not contain any trade name and must not be subject to any appeal for reconsideration.
OneSEC will prefill the corporation’s primary purpose or main business activity based on the chosen industry classification, which may not be subject to any modification by the applicant.
