The shift from Malaysia’s Securities Commission positions the Philippines to steer regional work on integration, sustainability, and cross-border cooperation ahead of its broader ASEAN leadership role next year.
Shared commitment
“As we accept this responsibility, we do so with humility and gratitude, mindful that the ACMF is not the work of one chairman, one country, or one term. It is the collective endeavor of a region bound by shared aspirations—prosperity with inclusivity, growth with integrity, and progress with sustainability,” said SEC chair Francis Ed. Lim in his acceptance speech.
“This handover is not just a change of hands. It is a renewal of our shared commitment to the ASEAN way [of] consultation, consensus, and cooperation,” he added.
The ACMF, created in 2004 by ASEAN finance ministers, seeks to build a deeper and more connected regional capital market while allowing countries to move at a pace suited to their level of market development.
Philippines SEC sets the agenda
“In line with the Philippines’ ASEAN Chairship theme, ‘Navigating our Future, Together,’ the SEC Philippines will prioritize strengthening integrity, deepening coordination on supervision, enforcement, and corporate governance, and fostering the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence to improve trust toward capital markets in the region,” the corporate regulator said.
Under Malaysia’s leadership, the ACMF advanced sustainability work through the ACMF Action Plan 2026–2030 and introduced new disclosure and taxonomy-aligned frameworks for markets and SMEs.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
