THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has secured accreditation from the London-based standard-setting organization Investors in People (IiP), in recognition of the commission's high-level practices in promoting the welfare of its employees through engagement, communication and organizational culture.

The accreditation makes the SEC the first in the government financial sector and the third national government agency to receive the international recognition for people management.

The IiP accreditation is given to organizations that demonstrate high-level good practices for leading and managing people, where employees have opportunities to grow and develop.

The commission ranks 98th out of 1,115 organizations with an employee size of 250 to 4,999 and fourth out of 98 organizations in the Public Administration and Defense sector, both locally and abroad.

"At the heart of our mandate as corporate registrar and securities regulator is creating a culture committed to excellence, continuous improvement and delivering unparalleled services to stakeholders. These efforts lay the foundation for continual enhancement and show our unwavering dedication to quality," SEC Chairman Emilio Aquino said.

Promoting best practices inside the workforce empowers the SEC to push for more corporate sector reforms, enabling the commission to deliver services more efficiently to its stakeholders.

The SEC has consistently been recognized for upholding both local and international standards in its provision of regulatory services. It received the ISO 9001:2015 Certification in 2022 for its core services over the corporate sector, the capital market participants, and the securities and investments instruments market in the Philippines, as well as the protection of the investing public.

The certification further covers the provision of registration of partnerships and corporations doing business in the Philippines in all SEC Extension Offices in Baguio, Tarlac, Legazpi, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga.

The commission has also received the Bronze Award for the Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management (Prime-HRM) from the Civil Service Commission. Prime-HRM seeks to assess the maturity level of an agency's practices in the areas of recruitment, selection and placement; learning and development; performance management; and rewards and recognition.

Kelvin Lester K. Lee is a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The views and opinions stated herein are his own. You may email your comments and questions to oclee@sec.gov.ph.