Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is named as the Best Stock Exchange in Southeast Asia at the Marquee Awards of the Annual Best Deal and Solution Awards 2021 by institutional investment magazine Alpha Southeast Asia brought about by the record number of product introductions. In terms of deal size, PSE sets a new record of P234.48 billion in 2021 from an old record of P228.33 billion in 2012. In terms of asset classes, PSE handled 8 initial public offerings, 4 stock rights offerings, 11 follow on offerings and 7 private placements. Although the coronavirus infection rate continues to elevate while the mutation rate continues to escalate despite the availability and accessibility to vaccines, PSE managed to demonstrate an unarguable dedication and unwavering determination to uphold a mandate for the greatest good for the greatest number of investors. But an award or accolade granted as an honor or as an acknowledgment of merit would neither be relevant nor important whenever an awardee cannot deliver a promise. Trading rules state that PSE can stop the trading in the market if at least one-third of the trading participants cannot access the trading system. PSE canceled trading on the second trading day of the new year brought about by a technical glitch in which 43 out of 125 trading participants were unable to connect to its trading system. The technical glitch was blamed on problems encountered in establishing a connection between the NASDAQ trading engine and the Flextrade front-end system. Through the constant coordination and collaboration with the representatives of NASDAQ and Flextrade, PSE was able to determine and resolve the underlying cause of the problem and trading resumed without a technical glitch. Most market observers would argue that the trading and market participants neither gained nor lost a single centavo brought about by the technical glitch that resulted to the trading cancelation but there was an unquestionable opportunity cost. Although we neither have a truckload of cash to trade nor an avalanche of disclosures to read, trading and market participants were unable to enter or exit the market and lost the chance to take a reasonable level of risk in search of an acceptable rate of return. Perhaps PSE should have human resources with the appropriate professional experience, theoretical background and practical competencies to ensure that technical glitches would not force the trading and market participants to a false start.
