Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Today (June 22) marks a milestone in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) with the launch of its new trading system, the “PSETrade XTS.”
The new system is powered by the New York-based National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) OMX, which also runs in over 100 other markets in different cities, including those in neighboring countries Indonesia and Malaysia.
Since 2010, the PSE ran on “PSETrade NSC,” a system provided by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Technologies SAS, until now.
The new system enables the PSE to offer more assets, aside from the usual equities or stocks.
“We see PSE offering more asset classes within a 3-year period… Diversity is good. This will allow investors to choose which assets fit their different needs and risk profiles,” noted PSE Chief Operating Officer Roel Refran.
Furthermore, the new system supports seamless trading across countries. It’s a feature the PSE will need if and when it joins the Southeast Asian stock trading platform.
“The Philippines sees itself joining its Southeast Asian neighbors in a common trading market. That platform uses a similar system as our new system, which will make the link easier,” explained Paolo Martirez, Senior Manager of Unicapital Equities.
The PSE earlier planned to rollout the new system on June 1. However, the launch was postponed to accommodate further testing by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC gave its go signal about a week later.
With more instruments offered and the opportunity to trade securities with other countries, the new system could attract and encourage more Filipinos to invest, and help the PSE expand the country’s capital market in the next few years.
“The country’s participation rate in the stock market is less than 1%… We have an expanding middle class we’d like to tap,” Refran said.
“Technology is a real enabler, and we see this new system as a big opportunity to develop the stock market.”
