The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Philippines has reportedly granted crowdfunding permits to SeedIn Technology and Eastern Securities Development Corporation.
The licenses should allow the business entities to serve as crowdfunding intermediaries and provide crowdfunding portals, offering the Southeast Asian country’s SMEs with various funding options.
This is notably a part of the SEC’s (in the Philippines) ongoing efforts to promote crowdfunding as a safe and sustainable investment option for local investors.
SeedIn is a debt-based crowdfunding platform that has been launched to facilitate lending by all types of investors. This may include retail investors, accredited investors, and institutional investors to Philippines-based small business borrowers.
The firm’s platform is able to match debt issuers with its registered investors, who are required to maintain a registered banking account with an approved local financial institution.
Investors are also able to lend funds via SeedIn Technology’s platform by using capital obtained from an overseas bank account. However, this is subject to compliance with all applicable laws and regulatory guidelines (which includes foreign exchange requirements).
SeedIn Technology is majority-owned by Singapore’s SeedIn Technology Holding, which provides management consultancy services.
As mentioned in the update, Eastern Securities, a duly registered stock brokerage, will be managing Round One Platform which will reportedly be the first equity-based crowdfunding platform that has been authorized in the Philippines.
Via the platform, issuer-users are able to initiate and carry out fundraising campaign activities, meanwhile, investor-users are able to commit investible funds to such campaigns.
Potential issuers via the platform are required to provide Eastern Securities with the details of the offering, which may include share price, total fundraising target, and total equity offered, among others.
In the Philippines, Section 8 of Republic Act 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code, “provides that securities shall not be sold or offered for sale or distribution, without a registration statement duly filed and approved by the SEC.”
However, crowdfunding securities may be “exempted from registration, provided that the issuer, intermediary, and investors comply with SEC Memorandum Circular No. 14, series of 2019, or the rules and regulations governing crowdfunding.”