PSE officially closes trading floor as brokers go digital

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 24) — The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. officially closed its physical trading floor permanently on Friday as it shifts to online trading on June 27.

In a statement, the PSE said a bell ringing ceremony was held to mark the event. Trading participants who leased floor booths at the PSE Tower in Taguig City witnessed the final physical trades.

The bourse initially announced the permanent closure of the trading floor early this month as brokers shifted to digital trading.

PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon said in his message that after the exchange moved to the PSE Tower in 2018, only 85 of 132 active trading participants availed of booths and dealer room spaces. Lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted brokers to opt for offsite trading, he said.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic, these 80 plus TPs experienced offsite trading firsthand when we had to go floorless due to the lockdowns. This clearly demonstrated to the TPs that seamless trading can be done so long as they are connected to the PSE’s trading platform. Finally, when the time came to renew their leases at the trading floor, only 29 of the 85 TPs renewed their leases, making it more practical for everyone to go on a full floorless trading,” he explained.

“The use of this trading floor may have been short-lived, but we will repurpose this 695 square meter space to more productive use for our stakeholders,” he added.

Monzon said aside from the permanent closure of the physical floor, the 64-year history of PSE under such setup is also coming to an end.

In 1927, the then-Manila Stock Exchange was organized, but the first formal reference to having a trading floor was in 1958 when MSE moved to the Filipinas Building in Plaza Moraga, Manila.

PSE opened its unified trading floor in February 2018 when it moved its headquarters to in Taguig City. Before this, it had two trading floors – one in Makati City and another in Pasig City.