Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Francis Ed. Lim has implemented multiple regulatory changes since taking office in June 2025. The updates aim to reduce bureaucracy and broaden investor participation in the Philippine capital market.
Lim previously served as president and CEO of the Philippine Stock Exchange from 2004 to 2010. During that time he contributed to the introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts and the Personal Equity and Retirement Account Act.
Since assuming the SEC role, Lim has expanded the OneSEC online portal to 83 business categories and cleared more than 26,000 backlogged corporate applications. Fees on key documents were cut by 50 percent, saving the public over P110 million.
The agency also launched sector-specific fast lanes and introduced the Philippine Green Equity Guidelines, the first such rules in ASEAN. Term limits for independent directors were set at a maximum of nine years, and broker directors on the PSE board face a 10-year cumulative cap.
Lim filed a criminal complaint against Villar Land Holdings for alleged insider trading. He has also overseen the first regulatory framework for sukuk in the Philippines and opened the SEC Strategic Sandbox to 24 applications involving digital assets and derivatives.
