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By Riza Lozada  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has turned down a petition of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) for an exemption on ownership limits on financial markets in its planned merger with the Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp (PDS), effectively putting in limbo the consolidation of the local equities and fixed-income or bond market. 

By Luis Leoncio Whoever wins as president in next month’s elections, investors face “some uncertainty” on the country, according to the United Kingdom-based political risk analysis firm Global Risks Insight (GRI). 

By Luis Leoncio  Perceptions of pervasive corruption continue to haunt the Philippines in the international community, which is why the business community in Australia is reported to have felt generally relieved that the planned telecommunications venture between local conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Australian giant Telstra has been aborted. 

By Lito U. Gagni As the hearings in the Senate wound up last week, with a pivotal closed-door session that the key player, Maia Santos Dequito, head of the Jupiter branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., sought and which the Senate probers grudgingly granted, several questions deemed crucial to unravelling the mess that brought down Bangladesh’s central bank head remained …

Even the government think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) says proposals to amend the personal income-tax schedule “appear to be well-justified,” if they are accompanied by measures that would allow the government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. 

By Jerry Maglunog Financial authorities have softened their stand on the country’s strict Bank-Secrecy Law as a result of the $81-million online heist involving funds of the Bangladesh central bank routed to the country.

By Luis Leoncio  For the past five years it has been in power, the Aquino administration spent an estimated P260 billion on the agriculture sector without producing substantial results in terms of the country’s farm output, according to former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. 

By Luis Leoncio  The government continues to pay non-productive loans that did not benefit the economy. and of the total P214.5 billion scheduled debt servicing for this year, some P3.7 billion will go to the interest and principal payments of five questionable and illegitimate loans, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said. 

The government has drafted a gameplan in preparation for tighter competition in the local business sector in a liberalized environment as a result of the launch of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Community (AEC) late last year. 

By Riza Lozada The Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are at odds over steps the government should take to reduce smuggling in the country.