SEC shelves plan to raise fees, charges

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November 28, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially shelved its proposed plan to impose higher fees, which were announced back in 2023, aimed at supporting the sustainability of its operations and the development of information technology (IT)-related systems.

SEC commissioner McJill Bryant Fernandez told The STAR that the proposed increase in charges by the agency “is on hold.”

“In the near future, we will not implement any increase,” Fernandez said.

“As you’ve noticed, we’ve also introduced discounts. So we’re balancing. But the concern, of course, is we have to study all of our IT initiatives,” he said.

The SEC released the revised schedule of fees in August 2023 to solicit comments, suggestions, and inputs from stakeholders.

Among the proposed changes is that fees would increase to 1/4 of one percent of an entity’s authorized capital stock, but not less than P2,500 of the subscription price of the subscribed capital stock, or whichever is higher.

The proposed revised schedule of fees, the SEC said, was the result of a thorough and careful study, under which a dedicated committee was constituted to assess the current fees in relation to operating costs to ensure the sustainability of the commission’s services and fulfillment of its legal mandate.

The SEC stated at the time that “the current rates are based on operational and administrative costs prevailing almost 10 years ago,” as the schedule of fees was last updated in 2017, following a proposal from 2014.

The proposed new fees by the commission aimed to support its efforts in proactively addressing the needs of the corporate sector, providing the SEC with sufficient leeway to introduce reforms and fund future innovations.

In particular, it said that the development of IT-related systems and the delivery of such services entail costs, and to sustain them, fees must sufficiently cover the ongoing costs of maintaining and upgrading these systems.

The proposed hike, however, earlier met opposition from some of the country’s biggest business groups led by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Management Association of the Philippines.

The SEC eventually met with the business groups to address the points they raised and unify the viewpoints of the commission and its stakeholders.

One of the requirements sought by the business groups was the regulatory impact assessment of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA).

Last year, the SEC stated that the ARTA had approved the proposed increase in registration and filing fees, but the commission provided no specific timetable for its implementation.

SEC chairperson Francis Lim, who started his term as SEC chair in June, earlier told The STAR that he is against any fee increase at the commission, noting that his goal for his term is to reduce expenses and transaction costs.

Under his leadership, Lim has committed to streamlining transactions by ensuring that all steps and requirements for SEC processes are necessary, consistent and simplified.

He said the SEC would also explore reasonable fee reductions, particularly for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

SEC Memorandum Circular (MC) 6, Series of 2025, which took effect on July 1, provided a 50 percent discount on the physical and authenticated copies of company filings, including the articles of incorporation and by-laws, general information sheet and annual financial statements, among others.

The reduced rates for such documents and other IT-related services of the commission, as outlined in MC 6, have since provided over P36.5 million in discounts to the transacting public, the SEC said.

Meanwhile, MC 8 provided discounted rates for specific filing fees to support the growth of MSMEs following its release on July 16.