Agenda for Sebi board’s last meeting under Tyagi

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) board meeting is set to consider a number of important agendas on Monday. This event is also important as it is the last full board meeting under chairman Ajay Tyagi.

Tyagi is set to step down in March if his tenure is not renewed for a second term. Madhabi Puri Buch, whole-time member, Sebi will also step down in the last week of March.

Here is a low-down on what we can expect from the market regulator's board meeting today:

Regulatory sandbox

A regulatory sandbox, which is under Sebi’s consideration, will allow live-testing of new financial products or services in a controlled environment. Exchanges and market infrastructure institutes have already implemented innovative sandbox. This time the board is considering regulatory sandbox which will not just allow companies to test their fintech solutions in isolation from live market, but also enable Sebi to form policies and regulations encouraging them. Sebi will also grant these innovative ideas certain relaxations from some regulations and guidelines which are hampering the proposed innovations and acting as barriers to entry of new products.

Difficult to recover penalties

Sebi will give a new tag to individuals from whom it is facing difficulties in recovering dues and penalties. Cases where the markets regulator is unable to trace offenders and recover dues will be labelled 'difficult to recover'. These dues would be small and pointless for Sebi to keep pursuing. However, the regulator will continue its prosecution proceedings against these offenders.

To finalise ban on using pool accounts for MF transactions

The board will mull another major rule change as a fallout of Karvy Stock Broking Ltd debacle. Sebi will bar the use of pool accounts for routing mutual fund transactions. On 23 December, Sebi had put out a discussion paper proposing a halt in purchases and sales of mutual funds through pool or escrow accounts of brokers and online platforms. The regulator will now permit only direct credit and debit of investor bank accounts for mutual fund transactions. The rule is expected to make mutual fund transactions safer and reduce the risk of fraud or default by intermediaries. In case of Karvy, client securities were misused for other purposes such as raising funds.

Finalise rules for proxy advisers

Sebi will finalise norms to address conflicts of interest and ensure independence of proxy advisory firms, making recommendations on key company resolutions. It will also address issues of accountability of global proxy firms when they give opinions on Indian companies.