His departure follows that of five other senior exchange executives late last year, reportedly over wranglings on market reforms. Lim has denied rumours that he was facing the possibility of being fired for his management of these disputes. He said he was leaving because his doctors had advised him to. He underwent angioplasty in 2006.

Last November, the PSE won government approval to introduce a new platform for commodities trading, with the eventual aim of establishing a futures market. The bourse signed a technology sharing agreement with the Nyse Euronext group in 2008.

Lim will return to private law practice but will continue to be involved in the exchange’s initiatives for developing capital markets.

During his tenure, Lim drove the development of the exchange’s capital markets that encouraged the separation of its trading and regulatory divisions and he was a driving force behind five capital market laws.

The PSE said its chairman Hans Sicat will head the CEO search and transition committee while the PSE has appointed Val Antonio Suarez as chief operating officer and general counsel Roel Refran will be the concurrent head of the Issuer Regulation Division.