In a bid to boost financial consumer protection alongside
enhanced financial inclusion and financial literacy, markets regulator -- the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has proposed reviewing the
investor charter for stock brokers. The proposal is also in view of the recent
developments in the securities market including introduction of Online Dispute
Resolution (ODR) platform and SCORES 2.0 - a web based centralized grievance
redressal system of Sebi. In its consultation paper, Sebi has proposed to
modify the investor charter for stock brokers and sought comments on the
proposal till February 17.
The proposed modified charter would include vision, mission,
services provided to investors by brokers, various activities of brokers with
timelines, DOs and DON'Ts for investors, grievance redressal mechanism and
handling of investor's claims in case of default of a trading member along with
the format for investor complaints data to be displayed by brokers on their
respective websites and trend of annual disposal of complaints.
Additionally, Sebi has suggested advising brokers to bring
the charter to the notice of their clients by disclosing it on their respective
websites, making them available at prominent places in the office, and
providing a copy of it as a part of account opening kit to the clients, through
e-mails/letters. Also, all the brokers will continue to disclose on their
respective websites, the data on complaints received against them or against
issues dealt by them and redressal thereof, latest by 7th of succeeding month.
Sebi in December 2021 issued investor charter for brokers detailing the services provided to investors, rights of investors, various activities of brokers with timelines, DOs and DON'Ts for investors and grievance redressal mechanism among others. This was aimed at facilitating investor awareness about various activities which an investor deals with, such as opening of account, KYC and in person verification, complaint resolution, issuance of contract notes and various statements.
Source: Ace Equity