PSE president Francis Lim said during the weekend that a technical group composed of the PSE, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stock brokers, stock transfer agents and the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation for the SBL facility.

Lim said HSBC will be providing the technical expertise on how to operate an SBL facility while everyone will work on the nitty gritty of operating such a facility as well as draft possible amendments to existing rules.

There was already a set of implementing rules for the SBL but this had to be amended to include pertinent provisions of the recently enacted Securities Regulation Code. The amended rules are waiting for the approval of the SEC.

Another technical working group has been formed by the PSE, SEC, stock brokers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and foreign broker DBP-Daiwa which will provide the technical expertise for the exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Lim said the PSE has also sent one member of its staff to Singapore to study the trading of ETFs in the Singapore bourse. ETFs are publicly-listed open ended funds with portfolios composed of listed stocks.

He said they decided to form technical groups so all parties concerned can brainstorm and present their inputs in one venue—instead of the usual practice of passing drafts from one institution to another and having go through the same cycle all over again whenever there are conflicts or proposed amendments.

Lim said there may not be enough time to put the SBL and ETF into operation this year but it will be a big boost to the local market if they can be launched by next year.

The two products are part of the PSE’s continued efforts to increase market depth by offering new investment instruments. The SBL is a commonly used facility in other exchanges while the ETF is a widely traded product in foreign bourses.(JAL)