• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Oct. 11 The draft regulations on registration and responsibilities of investment advisors by the SEBI has been welcomed by market participants as this might lead to the profession being established on organised lines.

“With the latest announcement by SEBI, there will be some sort of a system and with these guidelines, it is sure to be treated as a profession. Being more organised, entry will be restricted and the investor can now actually hold someone accountable in case something goes wrong”, says R. Balagopal, Senior Vice President, Fedex Securities Ltd. Some market men feel that it was about time that this rule came about, as the oblivious investor ought to know who he is dealing with.

“There are a bit too many of your road-side briefcase investment advisors out there today. It is about time that we let the investor know who he is dealing with. If merchant bankers need to be registered, why should the investment advisors be let off,” questions a head of ‘equity markets’ group of a leading firm of merchant bankers in the city.

The rule does have it share of faults though. “This system might have some short term glitches, maybe something like bureaucratic hassles. Loopholes will eventually be found, side-line dealings will be a part of it too. But I feel it will only be a temporary problem,” said a Managing Director of an advisory firm.

Under the draft regulations proposed by SEBI, persons offering financial advice will have to be registered with SEBI and they shall not put themselves in a position of conflict of interest with their clients.

The investment advisors now will have to be registered in order to offer advisory services. Along with this, they have to be part of a self-regulatory organisation for getting certification in this regard from SEBI. Furthermore, the advisors will have to make relevant disclosures about themselves, their operations and affiliations.

More Stories on : Investor Protection | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Financial Services

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Corporate developments

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line