The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Tuesday it registered over 52,000 new companies in 2024, an all-time high, on the back of digital initiatives that made doing business in the country more efficient.
It said 52,304 new companies were registered in last year, up 6 percent from 49,506 in 2023.
This brought the total number of active SEC-registered companies to 527,710 at yearend.
“Digital transformation has always been one of the top priorities of the SEC to improve the efficiency of our services. Surpassing the 50,000-mark in company registrations serves as a testament that we are on the right track in encouraging entities to legitimize their operations through registration with the Commission,” SEC chairman Emilio Aquino said in a statement.
“In 2025, we will capitalize on the success of our digital transformation journey and explore other strategies that will bring our services closer to the public to contribute to the further improvement of ease of doing business in the Philippines,” he said.
The SEC said the bulk of newly-registered firms were stock corporations, which accounted for 75 percent, or 39,146, of the newly registered companies.
Non-stock corporations comprised 21 percent, or 10,782. while the balance of 5 percent, or 2,376, were partnerships.
The SEC said the newly-registered one-person corporations posted a 27 percent growth to 8,640 in 2024 from 6,794 in 2023.
Nearly 40 percent, or 20,231, of the new companies were based in Metro Manila, followed by CALABARZON at 8,226 (16 percent) and Central Luzon at 6,141 (12 percent).
The services sector dominated the new registrations at 86 percent, or 44,872, with the wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles segment recording 12,479 new registrants.
Since its digital transformation in 2020, the SEC has been setting record number of company registration.
Under SEC’s Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Corporation (eSPARC), the number of registration process has been reduced from 34 days to three days.
The SEC, in July 2024, launched Zuper Easy Registration Online (ZERO), Electronic Submission Authentication Portal (eSAP) and SEC Foreign Investments Registration Station (FIRST) Green Lane Unit, aimed at making company registration more efficient.