MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) posted a sharp increase in first-half earnings, with net income climbing nearly 20% year-on-year. But behind the headline growth is a mix of stronger trading activity, higher fees and a notable increase in fines and penalties that has drawn attention to the composition of the exchange’s earnings.
The PSE reported ₱608.38 million in net income for the first half of 2026, up 19.8% from ₱508.03 million during the same period last year. Operating revenues increased 9.4% to ₱1.44 billion, from ₱1.31 billion a year earlier.
PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon attributed the improved performance in part to a more active market. Average daily value turnover rose 13.5% to ₱7.72 billion, compared with ₱6.80 billion in the first half of 2025.
Transaction fees also increased 10.7% to ₱303.43 million, reflecting improved trading activity across the PSE and Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.
The fines issue
Bilyonaryo reported that PSE fines and penalties increased significantly during the first half, describing the increase as roughly ₱67 million and arguing that it accounted for a substantial portion of the growth in pre-tax earnings.
That interpretation should be viewed in context.
Fines and penalties are an established revenue category for the exchange, generally arising from violations of PSE rules and disclosure requirements. The PSE’s consolidated rules prescribe monetary penalties for various forms of non-compliance, including failures involving continuing disclosures.
The increase in penalties, therefore, does not by itself establish wrongdoing by the exchange or its management. It reflects the financial impact of penalties imposed under the market’s regulatory framework.
The PSE has also continued to publicly emphasize enforcement and compliance. In July, for example, the exchange sanctioned First Gen Corp. over disclosure violations related to transactions involving Prime Infrastructure Capital.
A more active market helped the bottom line
The bigger picture is that the PSE’s first-half performance was not based solely on penalties.
The exchange said higher trading and clearing revenues, together with depository securities account fees, helped lift operating revenues. The 13.5% improvement in average daily turnover also indicates that trading activity was stronger than during the comparable period in 2025.
The stronger performance follows a broader recovery in market activity after a relatively weak IPO environment in 2025.
For the full year 2025, the PSE recorded ₱144.14 billion in capital raised, generated through two IPOs, seven follow-on offerings, one stock rights offering and 14 private placements.
IPOs remain the elephant in the room
Despite the improved earnings, the number of conventional IPOs remains an important issue for the Philippine capital market.
The PSE entered 2026 targeting about four IPOs and ₱170 billion to ₱175 billion in capital raising.
By August, however, the exchange’s capital-raising outlook had changed dramatically.
According to Philstar, PSE management was projecting approximately ₱203.13 billion in total capital raising for 2026 based on applications received, about 20% above the original target. The pipeline included the proposed ₱92.31-billion Mynt/GCash IPO, the approximately ₱24.19-billion Vitro REIT offering, and other follow-on offerings and private placements.
That means the apparent weakness in the IPO pipeline should not be confused with weakness across the entire capital-raising market.
Much of the expected fundraising is concentrated in large transactions scheduled for the second half of the year.
GCash could change the picture
The proposed Mynt IPO is particularly significant.
The parent company of GCash is targeting an offering that could raise up to approximately ₱92.3 billion, assuming full exercise of the overallotment option. Philstar reported that the transaction is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.
If completed at that scale, it would become one of the most consequential equity-market transactions in Philippine history and could substantially reshape the PSE’s 2026 fundraising statistics.
The planned Vitro REIT transaction is another major piece of the pipeline, with an estimated offering size of about ₱24.2 billion.
PSE is also changing how companies can enter the market
The exchange has been pursuing rule changes aimed at making the Philippine market more attractive to issuers.
In June, the PSE proposed reducing the minimum public offering size for certain preferred-share listings from ₱1 billion to ₱100 million, while also proposing changes that would allow direct listing of preferred shares without a traditional IPO.
The exchange has separately been developing new market-making rules and exploring products intended to improve liquidity and broaden participation.
These reforms are part of a larger effort to make the Philippine capital market more competitive and encourage companies to raise money locally rather than relying primarily on bank financing or overseas markets.
Monzon remains at the center of the PSE’s strategy
Monzon, who has led the exchange since 2017, received a fresh mandate following the PSE’s 2026 stockholders’ meeting. InsiderPH reported that he is entering his 10th year at the helm as the exchange prepares for potentially large listings and continued market reforms.
The PSE has also identified market modernization as a priority, including upgrades to its trading engine, order-management system and disclosure platform.
Bilyonaryo’s report has framed the sharp rise in fines as an important factor behind the first-half earnings increase and linked the issue to questions surrounding the exchange’s performance under Monzon. That characterization is Bilyonaryo’s, rather than an independently established finding that Monzon personally “jacked up” fines.
The bigger question for investors
The more important question may not simply be how much the PSE earned from fines.
It is whether the exchange can translate stronger trading activity and its massive second-half capital-raising pipeline into a deeper, more liquid and more attractive Philippine stock market.
The numbers currently point to improving activity: first-half net income was up 19.8%, average daily turnover rose 13.5%, and projected 2026 capital raising has climbed above ₱200 billion.
But the market still faces a structural challenge: attracting a steady stream of companies to list and keeping sufficient liquidity after they do.
The anticipated GCash and Vitro transactions could provide a major boost.
For now, the PSE’s first-half numbers tell two stories at once: earnings are rising, but investors will be watching closely to see whether the exchange’s next big growth story comes from penalties — or from a genuine resurgence in IPOs and capital formation.
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