SEC Adopts ASEAN SRFs, Establishes Implementing Rules

Background

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") issued Memorandum Circular No. 4, Series of 2023 ("Circular") adopting the ASEAN Sustainable and Responsible Fund Standards ("ASEAN SRFS") and establishing rules to implement it in the Philippines. It took effect on 27 April 2023.

The ASEAN SRFS applies to investment companies, including sub-funds of umbrella funds, that seek to offer their shares, either locally or on a cross-border basis, as an ASEAN Sustainable and Responsible Fund ("ASEAN SRF"). It was developed by the ASEAN Capital Market Forum, in line with the growing importance of sustainable finance in the ASEAN, to provide minimum disclosure and reporting requirements for Collective Investment Schemes ("CIS") that seek to qualify under the ASEAN SRFS and to address the need for a comparable, uniform, and transparent disclosure of information to mitigate the risk of, among others, greenwashing.