“Fighting for these retail investors is an ongoing battle for PSE. We have to contend with crypto, we had to contend with FX [foreign exchange] trading before, then we had to contend with online gambling,” PSE president and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said in an interview after the exchange’s annual meeting on Saturday.
“So you have a lot of other avenues where the money of the retail investors are being channeled,” he added.
Monzon made the remarks after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) admitted Binance’s Philippine partner, BlockShoals Technologies, into its regulatory sandbox.
This paves the way for the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange to re-enter the local market under regulatory supervision.
No retreat
Rather than pushing back against crypto, Monzon said the exchange intends to become more competitive.
“I’m also surprised why they allowed it. I know for a long, long time they have not allowed Binance to operate here,” he said.
Monzon said he has yet to discuss the matter with SEC chair Francis Ed. Lim but expects to raise it in future conversations.
The SEC barred Binance from operating in the Philippines in 2024 for lacking the required local licenses.
“But having said that, the crypto market is already there. We’re just not gonna give up. We are continuing to fight for the retail market,” Monzon said.
Vietnam playbook: liquidity starts with retail
Monzon said rebuilding liquidity starts with bringing ordinary investors back to the stock market.
“We are declaring that we don’t have liquidity. Where does liquidity come from? We look up to retail. If you look at Vietnam, you look at Taiwan, their liquidity is coming from retail investors.”
He said Vietnam offers a model the Philippines should study more closely.
“One of the brokers we talked to… has 1,750 agents going around, catering to a number of retail accounts. They go out and call the retail one for advice. They say, buy this, sell this. So we have very active agents really taking care of retail accounts.”
More sales agents needed
Monzon said the Philippines should examine whether its licensing rules are making it unnecessarily difficult to build a larger network of stock market agents.
“Our problem here is it’s so hard to get agents," he said. " That’s something we have to look at."
He pointed to the insurance industry, where thousands of licensed agents market financial products, saying the stock market should study whether its own licensing framework can be made more accessible.
Monzon said the stock market could learn from the insurance industry, where a large network of licensed agents helps distribute financial products.
Margin trading update
He also wants regulators to revisit margin trading rules, which he said have discouraged broader participation.
“We really have to look at our margin rules because the market is very restrictive,” Monzon said.
Margin trading allows investors to buy stocks with borrowed money, making it a higher-risk investment strategy.
Monzon said Philippine margin rules are significantly more restrictive than other markets such as Vietnam, making the product far less accessible to retail investors.
“Margin trading in the Philippines is practically not open to retail investors,” he said.
The roadmap
Monzon said the exchange’s response to crypto is not to resist new competitors but to make the stock market more attractive for ordinary Filipinos.
“That’s something that we will be working on also to encourage more volume from retail investors,” he said.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
