Company registrations with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hit a record high in 2022 following the launch of its digital services aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the Philippines.
It said 42,926 companies registered with the agency in 2022, up 13 percent from 38,052 seen in 2021. This marked a record high for the SEC’s 85-year history as the country’s company registrar.
The SEC attributed the robust activity in corporate registrations to the launch of its digital services since 2021, which helped improve the process of putting up a business in the country.
“The digital transformation of the SEC was inspired by our vision for a company registration process that can be completed with ease and convenience, transactions that are safe and secure, and corporate data that are easily accessible,” SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino said.
The SEC said the rise in the number of business registrations support the government’s positive economic outlook.
“As more Filipinos realize their entrepreneurial aspirations through the corporate vehicle, we expect more and better employment opportunities for our countrymen across the archipelago, and ultimately a more comfortable and secure life for everyone,” Aquino said.
The total number of company registrations jumped by 67 percent in 2021, as the business sector gradually started to recover from the impact of the pandemic in 2020.
The SEC launched the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Companies (eSPARC), and its subsystem, the One Day Submission and Electronic Registration of Companies (OneSEC) in 2021.
It said that with eSPARC, the SEC reduced the company registration process from 16 steps in 34 days to three days.
The process is even faster with the use OneSEC, with a record processing time of 1 minute and 14 seconds from the start of application to the receipt of a digital Certificate of Incorporation.
The SEC also made payments easier through the Electronic System for Payments to the SEC (eSPAYSEC), where the transacting public can now choose from over 90,000 online and offline payment options nationwide.