SAT concludes hearing in MF distributors case

Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) today completed hearing the case related to in-principle approval given by regulator Sebi to IMFI for a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) for mutual fund distributors.

Sebi, last year, had granted in-principle approval to Institution for Mutual Fund Intermediaries (IMFI), a decision that had been challenged by Financial Planning Supervisory Foundation (FPSF) before the tribunal.

Concluding the hearing, SAT today reserved its judgement for a later date.

FPSF, promoted by Financial Planning Standards Board India, was one of the applicants for setting up a self-regulatory organisation for mutual fund distributors. But, it was IMFI which got the go-ahead.

IMFI is promoted by mutual fund industry body, Association of Mutual Funds in India, a grouping of all fund houses in the country and it is also entrusted with the responsibility of distributor registrations.

To better monitor and regulate mutual fund distributors, Sebi in January 2013 had notified norms to set up a regulatory body.

Subsequently, Sebi had invited applications for setting up the SRO and got responses from IMFI, FPSF and Organisation of Financial Distributors.