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PDS Group Official Statement – October 10, 2013
Posted on: October 10, 2013
PDS Group Chairman and BAP President Lorenzo V. Tan announces that the Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the PDS Group, Mr. Vicente B. Castillo, passes the mantle of leadership to Mr. Cesar B. Crisol.
Mr. Crisol is another PDS pioneer, having served as Founding President of one of its subsidiaries, the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx). His market expertise was ripened through years as an investment banker, with stints at the Multinational Investment Bancorporation, Inc., Banco Santander Philippines, Inc., and Santander Investment Securities Philippines, Inc., among others. An industry champion, he has led market efforts in several posts including membership in the BAP Financial Reforms Committee, serving as Chairman of the Underwriting and Origination Sub-Committee; in the BAP Open Market Committee, serving as Chairman of the Fixed Income Exchange Sub-Committee; and as President of the Investment Houses Association of the Philippines at the turn of the millennium. He played a prominent role in stabilizing our markets amid the financial distresses which led to the creation of the organized fixed-income market. His well-honed market perspective will continue the vision of market dynamism and relevance, as he takes on the challenges of leading PDS Group in its evolution.
Mr. Castillo leaves the helm of PDS Group after more than 10 years of outstanding leadership and market stewardship, shepherding the vision of the market stakeholders to realize the creation of an organized fixed-income market, and a seamless financial market infrastructure. This vision transformed the then Philippine Central Depository, an equities depository and foreign exchange platform, into what is today the PDS Group, consisting of PDEx (fixed-income exchange), PSSC (fixed-income clearing and settlement), and PDTC (equities and fixed-income securities depository, custody, and foreign currency platform for US dollars and, soon, Renminbi).
PDS Group is honored to have had Mr. Castillo as its head and is grateful for his unquantifiable contributions to the development of the Philippine capital market. Its fixed-income infrastructure now hosts government securities and corporate securities trading, spanning the inter-dealer, inter-professional, and public segments of the market. Market activity shows steady vibrancy, with volumes in the fixed-income market now averaging PHP26.8 billion daily year to date and in the foreign exchange markets USD926 million daily; values at the depository at PHP 3.7 trillion and foreign currency activity at the settlement highways averaging USD4.2 billion daily. The strength of the PDS financial picture shows PDS to be healthy and ready to face its future.
This Philippine marketplace has come to be regarded as one of the better organized fixed-income markets in this part of the world by international market watchers. And in the coming period, PDS is geared to take up the challenges of further integration as the infrastructure opens its doors to the entry of the tax-exempt segment into the marketplace. In large part due to Mr. Castillo’s pioneering efforts, exemplary direction, and tireless dynamism, PDS Group is primed for its crucial role in the Philippine market as it becomes poised to integrate with its regional counterparts. Under his leadership, the Philippines has taken a prominent seat at the regional discussions that are aimed to cement a place for our domestic fixed-income market in the regional marketplace.#