SEC chief Francis Lim wants youth, judiciary to understand how markets work

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Francis Lim also wants to stay on as Commercial Law Department Chair at the Philippine Judicial Academy

On the day he took his oath of office, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Francis Lim made a request to Commission on Higher Education Chair Shirley Agrupis: Introduce financial literacy classes to the youth.

Lim told reporters on Tuesday, June 10, that he discussed the inclusion of financial literacy courses with Agrupis when they met each other the day before.

The government’s two newest commissioners took their oaths before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, June 9, at Malacañang Palace.

Lim proposed to Agrupis the adding of financial literacy courses in senior high school, or as a general education course in the first year of college.

“In other words, every college student, regardless of the course that they will major in, should have financial literacy — knowledge on the capital markets, stock market, bond market, how to go about investments, and so on,” he said.

He hopes to further discuss the idea with Agrupis and Education Secretary Sonny Angara.

Lim pointed out that various agencies are currently implementing their own financial literacy initiatives to help Filipinos better understand how capital markets work.

But he believes that all Filipinos should be equipped with basic market knowledge as early as high school or college. They are, after all, the country’s future investors.

Introducing financial literacy classes in school was a provision in the Capital Market Development Act, a measure that Lim pushed for when he was president of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines.

The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on third and final reading in 2021, but it failed to make it past the Senate.

Marcos appointed Lim to chair the country’s corporate watchdog last week, following the expiration of the seven-year term of his predecessor, Emilio Aquino.

The judiciary’s role

Beyond internal reforms such as the simplification of registration requirements, Lim also hopes to bolster trust in the country’s markets by working with all branches of government.

Lim brings with him decades of experience in securities and markets litigation, as well as trade regulation. Apart from serving the Philippine Stock Exchange as its president in the early 2000s, Lim helped draft several rules promulgated by the Supreme Court as co-chair of the Rules on e-Commerce and Notaries Public sub-committees.

He was also a member of the sub-committee on Commercial Courts, where he helped draft the Rules on Corporate Rehabilitation in 2008, which outlines the procedures that corporations must undergo if they are experiencing financial difficulties.

The now-SEC chief even helped craft the Rules of Electronic Evidence in 2011, which allows electronic documents to be admissible in court as evidence as long as they are authentic and comply with admissibility rules.

Lim also currently chairs the Commercial Law Department of the Philippine Judicial Academy, the Supreme Court’s training ground for budding judges.

“I intend to stay in that role because I do believe that the judges, the judicial system, plays a key role in making or enabling our market,” he said.

As SEC chief, Lim is tasked with boosting investor confidence in the Philippine Stock Exchange, a market that’s been suffering from tepid growth due to the slow process of public listing and issues with enforcement of regulations.

He hopes to grow the market through consistent implementation of trade regulations, as well as cutting out red tape and bureaucracy in the application and listing process of budding companies.

– Rappler.com