BIZ BUZZ: PSE: ‘Goodbye physical, hello virtual’

It was bound to happen “sooner or later,” but the global pandemic made it “sooner rather than later.”

We’re talking about the transition of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) from having a physical trading floor to migrating to a completely virtual one.

Biz Buzz learned that the PSE board had just approved a plan to cease operations of its still relatively new physical trading floor at its still relatively new Bonifacio Global City (BGC) headquarters in Taguig by next month.

Once this happens, all trading will be done virtually and online, which is how it has been done since the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns anyway.

We hear the official memorandum outlining this move will be released today for the compliance of the almost 90 stockbrokers (officially known as “trading participants”) which maintain booths on the BGC trading floor. This is after everyone was informed verbally of the policy yesterday.

It’s actually a good move for the bourse as well as the stockbrokers who will all be able to save money thanks to the migration to the virtual world. It will also be great news for the traders of brokerage firms who were previously required to man the trading booths in person.

In any case, the number of stockbrokers which regularly manned their booths physically had dwindled to as low as eight (out of almost 90) due initially to pandemic restrictions, but now due to off-site work.

Except perhaps for news organizations which rely on television footage of the trading floor for their regular business news stories, everyone stands to gain from the move.

—Daxim L. Lucas

UCPB crib sold

With the merger between Land Bank of the Philippines and United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) now in effect, it’s not surprising to see the unified bank trimming not just its excess workforce but also redundant assets.

In the case of fixed assets, the head office of UCPB in Makati Avenue had to go.

The buzz is that BDO Unibank —which had already gobbled up many skyscrapers in the area—wanted to buy the UCPB building for future redevelopment. But in the end, the government, which controls both Landbank and UCPB, decided that the property, which is in a prime location, should not leave the public sector sphere.

We have confirmed that the building had been acquired by no other than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which will likely relocate to this new site by June. After leaving its condemned building in Ortigas, the corporate watchdog had temporarily set up office at the PICC.

For the longest time, the SEC had planned to invest more than P1 billion to build its new headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, on a portion of a two-hectare property intended to be the site of a future government “financial cluster.”

With the acquisition of the UCPB building, it seems that the SEC will settle for a home in the Makati central business district—at least for now.

—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Okada Manila moves

The deposed board of Okada Manila brought their issue before the Supreme Court on Thursday, a few days after the swanky casino resort was taken over by another group led by founder Kazuo Okada and his partner Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco.

In their petition to the high tribunal, the old Okada board— “old” since they were forcibly ejected, that is—said the group that’s now in physical control of the establishment went well beyond the scope of the court’s order to restore 2017 status quo.

How so? Well, the group says that Kazuo Okada owns only one share in the parent firm of Okada Manila in 2017, the same year that he was booted out by the board for alleged mismanagement issues.

So even restoring that status will not be enough to give him the right to take over the establishment (which he, of course, did).

Of course, the other side is expected to reply to this motion and we’ll be here to tell you about it. Abangan!

—Daxim L. Lucas

Payment delayed

The R-1 Consortium—which is headed by DM Wenceslao and Associates Inc.—recently initiated arbitration proceedings with the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to settle their outstanding payment issues.

The company said they had sent a notice of arbitration to the PRA since it has been waiting to be paid by government agency for “several years” now for their Manila Bay reclamation work that was completed back in 2008.

The PRA even acknowledged this in a notice last month and committed to communicate at the soonest possible time. But alas…

As such, the Wenceslao firm is now puzzled by the reported probe initiated by 1Pacman representative Eric Pineda, on the alleged delay in their reclamation project as this project was completed more than a decade ago.

In fact, PRA had already received its share of proceeds from the project and transferred and sold these to other parties.

Acknowledging Wenceslao’s and R-1’s accomplishments in the reclamation project, PRA even pledged payment to Wenceslao for its work through the agency’s board resolution in 2009.

In 2019, PRA—having acknowledged what was long overdue to Wenceslao—again reiterated in another board resolution to approve the final release of its pledged payment in favor of Wenceslao.

To date, Wenceslao has not received the same. What gives?

—Daxim L. Lucas