The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Dec. 29 it is making it easier for corporations to comply with their reportorial requirements by integrating certain reportorial requirements with the registration process, and providing for the automatic enrollment of newly-registered corporations in the Commission’s online submission portal.
The Commission issued SEC Memorandum Circular No. 23, series of 2023, Dec. 18, which provides for the integration of newly-registered corporations’ compliance with SEC MC 28-2020 and MC 1-2021 with the Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Company (eSPARC) and the Electronic Filing and Submission Tool (eFAST).
MC 28 requires every corporation, association, partnership, and person under the Commission’s jurisdiction and supervision to create and designate an official email address and cellphone number.
MC 1, which provides the guidelines in preventing the misuse of corporations for illicit activities through measures designed to promote transparency of beneficial ownership, requires incorporators to disclose with the SEC the person/s on whose behalf the registration of the corporation was applied for.
Nominee incorporators or applications for registration, as well as the nominee directors or trustees and nominee shareholders of the corporation, must likewise disclose to the Commission their respective nominators or principals.
“Corporations’ reportorial and other regulatory requirements provide vital information and insights to policymakers, regulators, law enforcers, businesses, investors and other stakeholders,” SEC chairperson Emilio Aquino said in a statement. “We are making it easier for corporations to comply with these requirements, as well as for stakeholders to access and use them to inform their decisions and actions.”
Starting Dec. 18, new corporations will no longer have to submit separate reports for their official and alternate email addresses and mobile phone numbers required under MC 28, as well as information on their beneficial owners pursuant to MC 1. They shall be required to provide such information during the registration process either through eSPARC or through its subsystem, One-Day Submission and E-registration of Companies (OneSEC).
In addition, new corporations shall now be automatically enrolled in eFAST, the Commission’s online system for submission of reportorial requirements. They shall be given temporary login credentials for their eFAST company accounts through the email addresses they have provided during the registration process, the SEC said. ||
