SEBI will start process of appointing an self-regulatory organisation (SRO) for mutual fund distributors, said SEBI Chairman, Ajay Tyagi told Cafemutual on the sidelines of the second AMFI Mutual Fund Summit held recently in Mumbai.
Tyagi said, “We are working on the process of appointment of SRO for distributors. We understand that distributors which today number in thousands, need SRO. We will come out with the policy on this soon.”
SRO for mutual fund distributors will be responsible for micro-regulations of its members. The SRO will spread awareness about mutual funds among people, educate and train distributors and conduct screening test for them.
Earlier, SEBI had invited applications for SRO in March 2013. In fact, the market regulator gave its go ahead to AMFI promoted Institution of Mutual Funds Intermediaries (IMFI) to form SRO in February 2014. However, SAT quashed SEBI’s decision to grant in-principle approval to IMFI after Financial Planning Supervisory Foundation (FPSF) intervention. Later the Supreme Court upheld SAT’s decision and asked the market regulator to start the selection procedure afresh in December 2017.