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PDS Group Official Statement – September 4, 2013
Posted on: September 4, 2013
PDS Group views the Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition with Prayer for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction as an opportunity to put to rest once and for all the old issues that have been raised by the petitioners and the interests they support. PDS submits itself to the courts in the hope that the legal questions will be finally settled.
The issues presented in the petition are the same issues that have in fact been the subject of hearings conducted at different times by both the House of Representatives and the Senate in aid of legislation. Persons aligned with the petitioners have aired their issues and grievances to mass media as well. Over the years, the regulators who are part of this action (the Department of Finance, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Bureau of the Treasury, and the Securities and Exchange Commission) and PDS have stood by the current market set-up.
The PDS Group was founded to, among others, implement government policy that only with an organized and regulated fixed income market will price transparency, price discovery, effective benchmarking, and investor protection be possible. These features are key factors in promoting the growth of the fixed income market, a very critical part of the capital market, with a wide and inclusive investor base. The merits of an organized market for fixed income trades has in fact been confirmed by the regulatory developments in advanced countries as a key component to ensure financial stability in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
As the legal issues are being settled in the highest court of the land, PDS Group assures its market constituents and the public that it remains committed to preserve order in the markets, and that it will communicate in a timely manner should any matters affecting the market come to fore. In the meantime, all markets shall conduct their business as usual. As such, value-added services will continue, thereby ensuring that individual and institutional investors, corporate issuers, dealers and brokers, and business in general continue to have access to efficient markets for executing transactions and meaningful reference rates and other market information for the pricing of loans and the valuation of assets. Settlements in our fixed income market will continue to enjoy Straight Through Processes in the Delivery-versus-Payment service while linkages with government remain in place, and settlements in our foreign exchange market will likewise enjoy Straight Through Process in the Payment-versus-Payment services using the same linkages. Our drive to widen public access to our market on a nationwide scale and, working hand in hand with the National Treasury, to bring the tax-exempt segment into the fold, including the adoption of the necessary conventions to achieve this goal, is targeted to be completed within this year. We enjoin our members – dealers and brokers – to prepare for this eventuality as we ready ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities of the regional integration.
PDS Group is only interested in pursuing legitimate activities pursuant to the policies of the government. PDS Group humbly believes that its business rests on well-founded legal and statutory bases, and submits itself to the sound discretion of the Supreme Court.
CONTACT
Socorro B. Lerer: (632) 884-5048