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Richmond Mercurio - The Philippine Star
November 29, 2025 | 12:00am
The facade of the SEC building in Makati City.
MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has seen sustained entrepreneurial activity across the country this year with the registration of a total of 43,185 new corporations recorded as of end-October.
The commission said that the number, although slightly lower than the 45,624 registrations recorded during the same period last year, reflects a resilient and dynamic business sector supported by continued regulatory reforms and an increasingly business-friendly environment.
“The SEC is consistently looking for ways to streamline the company registration process as this is the first step entrepreneurs have to go through to expand and grow their businesses,” SEC chairperson Francis Lim said.
“Beyond improving the registration process, we also want to ensure that maintaining their active status remains easy and accessible to support seamless and uninterrupted operations,” he said.
Of the newly registered entities this year, 30,671 are stock corporations, 10,117 are non-stock corporations and 2,397 are partnerships.
By industry, the SEC said that 22 percent of the corporations are in the wholesale and retail trade industry, while eight percent are in real estate.
Accommodation and food services, administrative and support services as well construction companies, meanwhile, account for six percent each.
Since Lim assumed office in June, the SEC has implemented policies and reforms that streamlined the company registration process and made transacting with the commission easier.
In July, the SEC issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 7, Series of 2025, which set strict timelines for processing all types of registrations, including a “deemed approved” policy if the commission fails to act on an application within the prescribed period.
The SEC also expanded the coverage of the One Day Submission and Electronic Registration of Companies (OneSEC)-Zuper Easy Registration Online facility, increasing the number of eligible industries to 81 from 33 and allowing companies with foreign equity to register through the platform.
As of October, the SEC said that 32,533 applications have been processed under OneSEC.
To further support the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the SEC issued MC 8, Series of 2025, granting discounted rates for certain transactions.
As a result, MSMEs now enjoy a 20 percent discount on registration fees and a 25 percent discount on filing fees for increasing capital stock through amendments to their articles of incorporation, effective until the end of the year.
The SEC said it is currently evaluating the possibility of extending these discounts as part of efforts to encourage more MSMEs to formalize their businesses.
