PSE’s short selling plan to proceed, chief says

The Philippine Stock Exchange will allow short selling as soon as issues on borrowing and lending of securities before the Securities and Exchange Commission and tax bureau are resolved, President Ramon Monzon said.

“As soon as we get the approvals, we will launch our short selling product,” Monzon said in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The probability of a GameStop incident happening in the Philippines is quite small, if not nil.”

Short selling will be limited only to stocks in the benchmark index and will be capped at 10% of their outstanding shares, Monzon said. The Philippines still doesn’t have option trading, which he said contributed to the “extreme volatility” in GameStop Corp.’s share price.

The approvals for the use of offshore collaterals and the template for a global master lending agreement are stalling the start of short selling in the Philippine bourse, said Monzon.

“We are not considering any changes or adjustment to our short selling rules” for these “are adequate, reasonable and conservative,” he said. – Bloomberg