New Delhi: In a move to expand the reach of
mutual fund products, market regulator SEBI on Friday allowed
stock brokers to sell them in accordance with the prescribed
norms.
"The stock brokers intending to extend the transaction in
mutual funds through stock exchange mechanism shall be
required to comply with the requirements specified in SEBI
circular... regarding passing the AMFI certification
examination," SEBI said in a circular.
However, the guidelines for the mutual fund brokers need
to be followed by the agents, it said.
To keep a tab on this, SEBI said, the stock exchanges
shall also monitor the compliance of the code of conduct
specified in the market regulator's circular for empanelment
of intermediaries by mutual funds.
Also, investor grievance mechanism for stock exchanges
shall provide for investor grievance handling mechanism to the
extent they relate to disputes between brokers and their
client in case of mutual funds.
The mutual fund brokers would, in addition, also need to
follow the existing guidelines for stamping and holding of
dematirialised accounts with regard to mutual funds, the SEBI
statement said.
The regulator has done this to use the infrastructure of
stock exchanges that already exists for the secondary market
transactions in over 1500 towns and cities, through over
200,000 stock exchange terminals can be used for facilitating
transactions in mutual fund schemes.
"The Stock Exchange mechanism would also extend the
present convenience available to secondary market investors to
mutual fund investors," SEBI said.
Bourses get flexibility to settle F&O
Market regulator SEBI today gave
the stock exchanges flexibility to set the futures & options
settlement day, instead of the current practice of the last
Thursday of the month.
Analysts said the move is an encouraging step for the
bourses to come out with innovative timelines, which would
provide flexibility to investors.
"It has been decided to allow flexibility to the stock
exchanges to set the expiry date/day for equity derivative
contracts," the SEBI said in release today.
The current practice is that open positions on futures
and options of equities have to be settled on the last
Thursday of the month.
With SEBI's latest move, the stock exchanges can now fix
the expiry date on any day of the month.
The regulator has also asked the bourses to ensure that
there is no change in the contract specifications or the risk
management framework and the integrity of the market is not
affected.
The current size of the F&O market is about 10 times of
the cash market and the National Stock Exchange, the pioneer
in the segment in the country, enjoys virtual monopoly.
"The move follows requests from other bourses which want
to have a slice of the F&O business through launch of
innovative products," SMC Capitals Equity Head Jagannadham
Thunuguntla said.
The Bombay Stock Exchange has been demanding the expiry
date on the penultimate Thursday of the month and MCX-SX, too,
has expressed interest for innovative timelines once it gets
into the business, he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, November 13, 2009, 22:57