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SEC Highlights Legitimate Investments For IOSCO World Investor Week

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Editing by Nathaniel Cajuday

In line with the celebration of World Investor Week this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) promised the public that it would further put emphasis on educating and steering the public toward legitimate investments. 

Celebrated from October 3 to 9, 2022, World Investor Week is a global campaign by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). The annual eventโ€”now in its 6th yearโ€”encourages securities regulators to highlight their efforts to promote investor protection. For this year, the theme stresses the importance of investor resilience and sustainable finance.

Last year, the Commission encouraged the public to become smart investors to secure their financial future for the 2021 theme focused on sustainable finance and the prevention of fraud and scams. (Read more: SEC Urges Public to be Smart Investors, Celebrates IOSCO World Investors Week)

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IOSCO Secretary General Martin Moloney stated in his message for the SECโ€™s celebration that the organization is pushing messages for further awareness of fraud and โ€œthe risk that anyone could fall into a fraudulent trap. It doesnโ€™t matter how wise you are, it happens to all of us.โ€  

โ€œWeโ€™re also pushing the message of the importance of investor resilience. Markets donโ€™t always go well, things donโ€™t always go well in your personal life, and you have to do financial planning so as to prepare for the periods when you need to be resilient when things arenโ€™t going that well,โ€ Moloney added.

Ten months into 2022, the SEC has already issued 75 advisories against groups and individuals who have been soliciting investment from the public without the necessary license from the Commission. On the other hand, for the previous years, a total of 115 and 126 advisories were issued in 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Moreover, the Commission noted that it has recorded an increase in entities that utilize the popularity of virtual currencies and play-to-earn opportunities, enticing investors with high returns within short periods of time.

In fact, the latest public advisory from the SEC features these schemes. In an October 18 release from the Commission, it issued a warning against Bitdefi Hub / Bitdefihub Advertising that entices investors with the chance to earn 20% daily for 10 days and requires cash investment via GCash or through the stablecoin USDT (TRC20).ย 

In another advisory, the SEC cautioned the public not to invest and stop investing in the controversial crypto Lodicoins after the Commission received several reports about the unauthorized investment-taking activities of LODITECH, the firm behind the coin, is not registered with the necessary regulatory authorities. (Read more: SEC Issues Public Advisory Against LODICOIN)

During a session of the Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies last August, the SEC addressed the country’s need for a specific law that will give the Commission jurisdiction and appropriate powers to control other cybercrimes that involve digital assets. Currently, the Commission can only shut down investment scams that are considered investment solicitations that violate the Securities Regulation Code. (Read more: SEC: Law Focusing on Digital Assets Needed)

Accordingly, the Commission is inviting the public to attend its webinars and take advantage of the educational materials it has released on legitimate investments to further counter the rise of such entities scamming and defrauding investors as well as to increase the knowledge of the investing public.

In line with this and as part of World Investor Week, the SEC held a two-day webinar on when and where to invest, which highlighted the advantages of investing in legitimate investments such as stocks, bonds, real estate investment trusts, and mutual funds. Further, the event also focused on the benefits of the MP2 Savings Program offered by the Home Mutual Development Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) and the Personal Equity and Retirement Account offered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (SEC).

During the Ringing of the Bell for Financial Literacy held by the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. last October 5, SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino mentioned that โ€œthe SEC will bring its investor education campaign to even greater heights.โ€ 

โ€œWe are highly motivated by the call of His Excellency, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to transform the country into an investment destination and, at the same time, transform the government into an agile bureaucracy that provides secure and seamless services to the public,โ€ he stated.

In addition, the Commission also partnered with social financial platform Investa, which operates the website Investagrams, for the conduct of a virtual trading competition that will run from October 11 to November 9, 2022.

โ€œThe trading competition seeks to encourage the public to apply their learnings from SEC webinars and training sessions and translate them to real-time trading experience, without the risk of losing their hard-earned money,โ€ the SEC wrote in a statement.

Accordingly, the participants will be given a virtual wallet of P100,000 at the start of the competition. Their task is to grow their initial fund until November 9. The top 10 participants with the highest profits by the end of the competition will be awarded at the SEC Anniversary and Recognition Ceremony on November 29.

โ€œThe SEC will continue to host different events throughout the month of October, as it prepares for the celebration of Investor Protection Week from November 7 to 11,โ€ the Commission concluded.

This article is published on BitPinas: SEC Highlights Legitimate Investments For IOSCO World Investor Week

Disclaimer: BitPinas articles and its external content are not financial advice. The team serves to deliver independent, unbiased news to provide information for Philippine-crypto and beyond.