The Philippine Stock Exchange elected on Saturday Ramon Monzon, a certified public accountant and a successful businessman who founded the Miss Earth global beauty pageant, as its new president and chief executive officer.
Monzon, 67, took over the post vacated by former investment banker Hans Sicat, who will continue to help the PSE as “chief integration officer” amid the bid of the local bourse to take over the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Group (PDS). This also marks the changing of the guards in PSE after Sicat’s six-year leadership.
The new PSE chief is “hopeful” that the P2-billion purchase of PDS by the local bourse could finally happen within this year.
The prospective union between the PSE and PDS — which is happening 25 years after the old Makati and Manila stock exchanges merged to create PSE — is seen to unify capital market infrastructure in the country in line with global best practices.
In introducing Monzon to the media after the organizational meeting conducted right after the PSE stockholders meeting on Saturday, PSE chair Jose Pardo said Monzon was someone who could “take the numbers, sleep with numbers” and interpret them well.
“He is a seasoned accountant and CPA who invested time in SGV and was a protégé of the venerable (SGV founder) Wash Sycip,” Pardo said.