Regulator Watch
CAPITAL MARKETS
To make the Know Your Customer (KYC) process easier, Sebi has allowed various market entities like brokers and mutual funds to get details from centralised KYC registration agencies (KRAs) if the client is KYC-certified instead of carrying out fresh KYC verification. Earlier, the market entities had the option to carry out the KYC verification process themselves or fetch the data from KRAs. In its board meeting SEBI did away with the option of carrying out the KYC process separately.
COMMODITIES
The Forward Market Commission (FMC) has allowed evening trading in internationally-linked agricultural commodities from 1 April 2014. Any significant movement in the international markets during evening hours leads to a significant gap on the domestic exchanges on the next day, thereby making hedge ineffective for trade participants. This will help in aligning domestic future prices better with international price movements. The FMC has extended the trade timings in futures contracts in 10 commodities-Ssya oil, soya meal, crude palm oil, RBD palmolein, cotton, kapas, cotton seed oil cake, cotton seed, sugar, maize.
INSURANCE
Irda has allowed insurance companies to invest in equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offered by mutual funds registered with Sebi. The ETF should be passively managed, investing in Indian companies and tracking a publicly available index. The overall expense ratio of the ETF shall be less than 0.50% of the daily net assets of the scheme.
