SEC widens access to one-day company registration

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Headquarters in Makati. | PHOTO: Daniella Agacer / INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — The number of companies that registered within less than a day via the online system of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) surged by nearly fourfold in July as the commission added eligible industries.

The corporate watchdog on Wednesday said its One-Day Submission and Electronic Registration of Companies (OneSEC) system had seen 2,938 company registrations last month versus 1,014 in May.

Eligible companies can currently register via OneSEC within a minute and 14 seconds, from the beginning of the application process until the receipt of a digital certificate of incorporation, according to the SEC.

“Company registration marks the first step in legitimizing a business, which is why we want to make the process as easy and accessible as possible to our stakeholders,” SEC chair Francis Lim said in a statement.

He added that streamlining the registration process would help encourage more entrepreneurs to eventually tap the capital market to raise funds and grow their business.

READ: SEC chief vows to break down barriers

Eligibility

OneSEC, launched in 2021, is a subsystem of the SEC’s electronic application process, although it is limited only to certain industries.

Those eligible to register via this “pass through” system include one-person corporations and regular corporations with two to 15 incorporators, board of directors and stockholders.

The SEC emphasized that this was part of its programs meant to improve the ease of doing business in the country by improving its internal processes.

It recently granted micro, small and medium enterprises a 20-percent discount in registration fees to encourage more small businesses to register as corporations. They may also avail of as much as a 50-percent discount in the filing fee if they intend to tap the capital market.

READ: SEC gives MSMEs up to 50% time-bound filing fee discount

In June, the SEC likewise enforced strict deadlines in addressing requests filed with the commission. Those left unaddressed beyond the prescribed period will be “deemed approved.”

“This is just the beginning; we will continue to assess our internal policies to identify the bottlenecks that we need to remove to further improve the ease of doing business, thereby reinforcing the trust and confidence of our stakeholders in our systems,” Lim said.

READ: SEC expands list of industries eligible for one-day registration