Brokers Industry Standards Forum (ISF) turns 1; a look at key achievements & milestones

Brokers ISF is one of the pilot industry standards forums established by SEBI. Its purpose is to facilitate industry bodies in setting standards for the implementation of various regulatory directives issued from time to time. Anchored by the three prominent Indian stockbroker member associations, the Association of National Exchange Members of India (ANMI), the Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers Forum (BBF), and the Commodity Participant Association of India (CPAI), Brokers ISF has met 38 times and taken up around 150 agenda items referred to it by regulator bodies, market infrastructure institutions, member associations or industry bodies over the past one year. 

Brokers ISF members and other invitees comprise domain expert market practitioners including representatives of qualified stock brokers, custodians, and high frequency trading. All the market infrastructure Institutions (MIIs), including stock exchanges, clearing corporations, and depositories, are also part of the forum.

The agendas have included proposals for a revised framework for upstreaming, a framework for voluntarily freezing or blocking online access to trading accounts, a direct payout framework for securities, the rationalisation of redundant submissions, quicker turnaround times by MIIs, and the drafting of the Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC) document, among others. Brokers ISF's inputs and recommendations have been instrumental in issues of around 50 circulars and instructions by SEBI or stock exchanges aimed at facilitating the ease of operations while achieving regulatory goals.

“The recommendations of Brokers’ ISF have been instrumental in setting standards for SEBI/Exchange regulations, by striking a balance between effective compliance and ease of doing business for the brokers. The number of recommendations of Brokers’ ISF accepted by SEBI/Exchanges in last one year speaks for itself on the success of the working of the ISF," said Brokers ISF Co-chair (MIIs) Piyush Chourasia, reflecting on the past year. 

“Considerable regulatory trust has been placed on the Brokers ISF. As a group, we go the extra mile to fulfil the same to the best of our ability," said BBF Chairman and Brokers ISF Co-chair (intermediaries) Kishor Kansagra. 

“We appreciate the regulator for giving us a platform to share the market concerns and also understand the regulatory one to get a fine balance," said ANMI President Vinod Goyal. 

“This body has seen wonderful and animated discussions over the past one year in the interest of the Indian Capital Markets. We look forward to more of the same," said CPAI President Sanjay Rawal. 

“The most beautiful aspect of this platform is the opportunity for us intermediaries to appreciate and understand the regulatory perspective and at the same time giving inputs of the practical ground realities -ensuring that the impact of regulatory directions is by design and not by default," said Uttam Bagri, the current Sherpa of Brokers ISF.