The process of getting registered with SEBI as mutual fund house or RIA just got easier. The budget 2017 has announced that SEBI would enable market intermediaries, which include fund houses and RIAs to apply for registration online.
The budget document says, “The process of registration of financial market intermediaries like mutual funds, brokers, portfolio managers, etc. will be made fully online by SEBI. This will improve ease of doing business.” The paperless mechanism is expected to save time and effort of the applicants. Currently, applicants seeking registration are required to submit their application forms either through post or by visiting SEBI office. Since many intermediaries are not comfortable sending their details through post, they prefer to visit the SEBI office and get acknowledgement of receipt of their application forms.
Experts believe that although the proposal will ease the process by doing away with the physical documentation part, it does not claim to reduce the overall time of registration. Also, there is no clause mentioned with respect to fund approval. Typically, the market regulator takes 2 to 3 months to complete the registration process.
Fund officials expect that the market regulator would allow them to get online approval for the new fund launch in future.
