QUEZON CITY, (PIA)--President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has lauded the efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission towards digital transformation during  its 85th anniversary on Thursday (June 22).

The President said the SEC’s digital transformation is integral to fostering business formation and growth in the country.

 “Through the digital reforms that you have put in place, you have made it easier for corporations to comply with the requirements and maintain a good standing in the business community,” he said.

“Your dedication to further improve the processes through innovations has enabled the SEC to employ a more modern, more efficient, and more secure approach in managing stakeholders and their data,” he added.

Before the President’s speech, SEC Chair Atty. Emilio Aquino presented the  Agency’s digital journey.

Aquino said that in support of the government’s objective to improve the ease of doing business in the country, they have accelerated the implementation of SEC’s digitalization reforms, expanded online services to make it more accessible to the public.

“We develop a website as the main platform for timely and extensive dissemination of our policies, notices and other information that are relevant to corporate and capital market entities and professionals, investors and the general public,” Aquino said.

The SEC Chair said, registration of companies is now made easier and faster through an online registration facility called the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Companies (eSPARC).

In 2021, SEC launched the One Day Submission and Electronic Registration of Companies (OneSEC), a subsystem of the eSPARC.

The OneSEC is considered a “pass through” as it requires minimal encoding of data on the part of the registrants with most of the company information already pre-filled.

Processing through the OneSEC is completely seamless and fully automated, with no human intervention on the part of the Commission from name verification of the proposed corporate name up to the issuance of the digital copy of the Certificate of Incorporation.

Payments of registration and other transaction fees, as well as penalties, may now be made online using debit and credit cards, digital wallets and other cashless payment options through the Electronic System of Payments to the SEC or eSPAYEC.

Reportorial requirements, including the Audited Financial Statements (AFS), General Information Sheet (GIS), Sworn Statement for Foundations (SSF), General Form for Financial Statements (SFFS), may now be submitted and accessed through the Electronic Filing and Submission Tool or eFAST.

 President Marcos lauds the Commission’s digital reforms saying that they have put in place, made it easier for corporations to comply with the requirements and maintain a good standing in the business community.

“Your dedication to further improve the processes through innovations has enabled the SEC to employ a more modern, more efficient, and more secure approach in managing stakeholders and their data,” President Marcos said.

“With programs such as eSECURE, eSEARCH, eRAMP, and SEC CheckApp, the SEC continues to be a reliable partner in our efforts to digitalize our government procedures and our services,” President Marcos added.

The President also led the digital unveiling of marker of the new SEC headquarters strategically located at the central business district of Makati City. (sdl)