MANILA, Philippines – The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to substantially hike its transaction fees and charges.
The proposed new rates are in line with higher costs and capacity building measures in the pipeline, the corporate regulator said in a public notice.
“The primary purpose for increasing the fees and charges is better public services delivery,” the SEC said.
“In general, the increase in the registration fees and annual fees is being proposed in view of the increasing cost of registration, supervision and monitoring of SEC-registered entities,” the agency said.
The SEC said other factors it took into consideration include the inflation rate since current rates were implemented in 2004, higher cost of hiring and retaining qualified personnel, and increased cost of improving and maintaining the SEC’s systems to properly supervise and monitor licensees.
Higher rates will also support the “increase in complexity of work assignments, oversight of new products and new markets, investment in capacity building measures, and overhead expense,” it added.
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Domestic corporations, foreign companies and multinationals, financing and lending companies, stock market brokers and dealers, investment houses and transfer agents, and self-regulatory organizations and central depositories will have to bear the increase in rates.
Transaction fees and charges might spike to as much as 100 percent. For instance, the revision fee for amended articles of partnership will double to P2,000 from P1,000 and charge for the amendment in by-laws to P1,000 from P500.
For foreign multinationals, petitions for amendment of license will require P3,000 instead of P2,000 while the petition for appointment of a resident agent is worth P3,000 from P1,000.
SEC said it is soliciting comments and suggestions from the public. It scheduled a public consultation on the proposed fees and charges on Dec. 13.
In 2012, the agency recorded P2.707 billion in collections, up from P1.8 billion in 2011 and P1.3 billion in 2010.
Registration fees account for 85 percent of the collections, with the remaining 15 percent taken up by fines and penalties.
The SEC earns from the registration for initial public offerings, bond offering and issuance of commercial papers. Last year, the corporate regulator’s generated income from four follow-on offerings and 10 bond issuances hit P96.5 billion.
SEC chairperson Teresita Herbosa earlier said the trend of higher collections would likely continue this year given robust economy conducive to capital raising and business expansion.
