Page 17 - Banking Finance July 2022

MUTUAL FUND

Mutual Fund

Sebi extends deadline for AMCs prepare to launch "It seems the NFO launch season is
going to be back starting next quarter.
commencing KYC record new mutual fund schemes
For two quarters, the bandwidth of
validation by KRAs from next month as Sebi AMCs got consumed in making the rel-
evant changes in the movement of
Sebi has extended the deadline by one restriction ending soon
customers' money as Sebi directed
month to August 1 for commencing the
AMC's are gearing up to launch new
validation of all KYC records by KYC them to discontinue the use of pool
mutual fund schemes from the next accounts. Further, at the same time,
Registration Agencies (KRAs).
month as capital markets regulator
markets also became very volatile,"
Earlier, such agencies were required to Sebi's three-month ban on the introduc-
Swapnil Bhaskar, Head of Strategy,
independently validate the KYC records tion of new fund offerings nears its end.
Niyo - neo-banking platform for
of all clients from July 1.
Moreover, Asset Management Compa- millennials, said.
Sebi has received requests from the nies (AMCs) have a line-up of passive
Going forward, some AMCs will start
KRAs to extend the timelines."After funds on the fixed income and equity
launching new fund offerings (NFOs) as
consideration, it has been decided that side as well as selective launches in
new processes are in place and they
the validation of all KYC records (new certain categories to fill product gaps.
are seeing value in the market due to
and existing) shall commence from Au-
Sebi had discontinued the launch of the correction, he added.
gust 1, 2022," Sebi said in a circular.
NFOs until the new systems concern-
Further, KYC records of all existing cli- ing pool accounts were determined Sacked Axis MF fund man-
ents who have used Aadhaar as an and the regulator had set July 1 as the
ager Viresh Joshi sues as-
Officially Valid Document (OVD) will be deadline for the implementation of the
validated within 180 days from August new system. set management company
1. Earlier, the deadline was July 1. Viresh Joshi has sued Axis Mutual Fund,
So far this month, at least six AMCs --
seeking Rs 54 crore in damages, for
The regulator, in January, notified new including PGIM India Mutual Fund
wrongful termination, according to
norms to make KRAs responsible for (MF), Sundaram MF, Baroda BNP
news reports.
carrying out independent validation of Paribas MF, LIC MF and Franklin India
the KYC records uploaded onto their MF -- have filed offer documents with Viresh Joshi, the sacked chief trader
system by Registered Intermediaries Sebi seeking its approval to launch new and fund manager of Axis Mutual
(RIs). schemes. Fund, submitted a legal notice to his
former employer, claiming that his ter-
Under the notified rules, such agencies Apart from these, draft papers were
mination from the business was
will have to maintain an audit trail of submitted with the regulator for 15
"wrongful" and "illegal".
the upload/modification/download schemes during April-May by a dozen
with respect to KYC records of clients. fund houses. On May 18, Joshi and assistant fund
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