PSE rolls out online investment platform for IPO shares

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Monday rolled out a web-based platform enabling local small investors (LSIs) to buy shares during initial public offerings (IPOs).

Dubbed as the PSE Electronic Allocation System (PSE EASy), the platform seeks to increase the investment of LSIs in IPOs which has historically never reached 2 percent of the maiden shares on offer.

“We noticed that the take-up of IPO shares by LSIs has never ever reached 2 percent in the past,” PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon said in an emailed statement.

Under the PSE LSI program, companies selling IPO shares must allocate 10 percent of the shares to LSIs. Small investors registered with the exchange can purchase as little as the minimum board lot of IPO shares but not exceeding P100,000.

Prior to the PSE EASy, small investors must do business in designated IPO kiosks in select Metro Manila malls, fill up forms, and submit these to their broker’s offices for acknowledgment.

They must then bring the same form back to the kiosk to be able to pay for the shares.

“A very cumbersome process for an LSI who could only invest then a maximum of P25,000 per IPO. In furtherance of PSE’s financial inclusion initiatives, the first thing we did was to increase the maximum limit to P100,000 per IPO,” said Monzon.

“We then designed an online LSI platform that will make subscribing to IPO’s more accessible (even to investors in the provinces), efficient and convenient,” he elaborated.

According to the PSE, prospective investors should create an account on the PSE EASy website. Their account must be confirmed by their respective stock brokerage firms.

The service will also be made available in the PSE EASy mobile application to be launched in the third quarter of the year.

“We noted that most of our investors now trade online and they are very savvy when it comes to using mobile apps. We want to continue leveraging on technology to make investing in offerings particularly in an IPO readily available to them,” said Monzon. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News