Sebi asks investment advisers, research analysts to disclose investor charter, complaint data on websites, mobile apps

Markets regulator Sebi on Monday asked investment advisers and research analysts to disclose the investor charter as well as data pertaining to complaints received on their websites and mobile applications.

The new guidelines will come into effect from January 1, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in two separate circulars.

In order to facilitate investor awareness about various activities which an investor deals with while availing the services provided by research analysts and investment advisers, Sebi has developed the investor charter for research analysts and investment advisers.

The charter is a brief document containing details of services provided to investors, their rights, dos and don'ts, responsibilities, investor grievance handling mechanism and estimated timelines thereof at one single place, in a lucid language, for ease of reference.

Sebi has asked registered research analysts as well as investment advisers to bring to the notice of their clients the charter by prominently displaying it on their websites and mobile applications.

In case they do not have websites or mobile applications, then these entities will have to, as a one-time measure, send charter to the investors on their registered e-mail addresses.

Additionally, in a bid to bring about transparency in the investor grievance redressal mechanism, Sebi has asked them to disclose on their respective websites and mobile applications, all complaints including those received on SCORES in a prescribed format on a monthly basis.

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

The data need to be disclosed latest by the 7th of succeeding month, Sebi said.

"Research Analysts/ Investment Advisers not having websites/mobile applications shall send status of investor complaints to the investors on their registered email on a monthly basis," the regulator said.

Further, they have been asked to display link or option to lodge complaint with them directly on their websites and mobile apps.

In addition, the regulator has prescribed a format for disclosing data of complaints on their websites.

Under the disclosure, these entities will have to disclose the complaints received during the month, those pending at the end of last month, resolved, total pending complaints, complaints pending for more than three months and average time taken in resolution.

Earlier, Sebi had asked depositories, registrar and share transfer agents (RTAs), merchant bankers, brokers, mutual funds, portfolio managers and alternative investment funds to disclose on their websites, the investor charter for a bunch of categories.

Besides, it had directed exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations to disclose on their websites the data on complaints received against them and redressal thereof.

This came after the regulator came out with the investor charter in November.

The charter is aimed at protecting the "interests of investors by enabling them to understand the risks involved and invest in a fair, transparent, secure market, and to get services in a timely and efficient manner".

The rights include getting fair and equitable treatment, expecting redressal of investor grievances filed in SCORES in a time bound manner.

Also, the market regulator created a separate investor charter for market infrastructure institutions -- stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories.