MANILA, Philippinesp–The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will put up satellite offices in SM malls in a bid to provide convenience and service to more business and corporate entities.
SEC chairman Teresita Herbosa and SM Supermalls president Annie Garcia led the signing of a memorandum of agreement for the establishment of an SEC satellite office in SM City Manila.
The SEC satellite office in SM City Manila is scheduled to open at the end of this month.
Herbosa said the SEC satellite office will offer frontline services of the commission including filing of the general information sheets and audited financial statements as well as articles of incorporation and any amendments.
Some government offices already have satellite offices in shopping malls. These include the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., the Social Security System, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Land Transportation Office.
Herbosa said they chose SM as their satellite office in Manila because of its strategic location. “The Manila mall is strategic because you have the Binondo business area. The schools and the university area and all the way to the Roxas Boulevard area will be using facilities in SM Manila,” she said.
SEC, she added, will open another satellite office in SM North Edsa in Quezon City. Negotiations are underway for the first satellite provincial office preferably in Cagayan Valley through SM City Cauayan in Isabela, she said.
“I hope that we could finalize everything within the year and hopefully this will be the start of a strong and long partnership with SM so that the time will come when the SEC is present in all SM malls,” Herbosa said.