Computershare Markets Technology today announced the successful beginning of live operation of the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp (PDEx), the country's first ever fixed-income exchange.
The announcement was made at a formal opening event in Manila attended by dignitaries including Secretary of the Department of Finance, Cesar Purisima, Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission, Fe Barin, Governor of the Central Bank, Rafael Buenaventura and Australia's Senior Trade Commissioner to the Philippines, Mr Alan Morell.
Trading began today for government debt securities through negotiated deals in the interdealer market. This will enable the market to move to a centralised screen based electronic trading platform aimed at improving the liquidity in and efficiency of the Philippine fixed income market by promoting price discovery and transparency.
PDEx operates on Computershare Market Technology's leading X-stream trading system, providing a fully-automated trading and market management system, and made available to market participants through the existing banking network.
President of the PDS Holdings Corp. (which owns PDEx) and Chairman and CEO of PDEx, Mr. Vicente Castillo said, "The partnership with Computershare created the kind of synergy that allowed the efforts for greater capital market reforms in the Philippines a better chance to develop and progress."
"This is a project of national importance and we appreciate the steadfast resolve of Computershare in accommodating all of PDEx's requirements with the development of a trading system that will promote greater efficiency, transparency and liquidity in the fixed income market", he added.
"We are delighted to be working with PDS as a strategic partner, facilitating the growth of the Philippine economy", said Mr. Peter Jessup, Managing Director of Computershare Markets Technology.
Computershare and PDS Holdings Corp. announced a strategic partnership in November 2003 and began work to adapt Computershare X-stream to the requirements of the market.
"Brand new market structures, unique business requirements and aggressive delivery timetables are typical of financial exchanges of national significance such as PDEx" said Mr. Jessup. "Computershare's ability to deliver on time and on budget is a testament to both the considerable flexibility of X-stream and our extensive experience in implementing market systems" he added.
The President and COO of PDEx, Mr. Cesar Crisol said "PDEx is fortunate to run on a world-class trading engine for fixed income securities that is also operating behind some of the world's leading exchanges and will drive our capital markets forward."
He added, "Computershare's X-stream system has the flexibility to adapt to the requirements of the local market."
Computershare Markets Technology currently provides trading and surveillance systems to a number of exchanges and industry bodies in the region including the Hong Kong Exchange & Clearing Corp, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, the Singapore Exchange, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Jakarta Stock Exchange and the New Zealand Exchange Limited.