Sebi imposes Rs 10-lakh fine on Franklin Templeton MF

This, for forming an 'informal group' as investment committee

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund for forming an 'informal group' as investment committee.

The regulator has said the panel breached the MF regulations. It did an inspection during July to October 2015 and decided the committee breached a Sebi circular of 2002. Further, the committee had included an international chief investment officer (CIO), based outside India, which didn't meet with the requirements under 1996 regulations.

Franklin Templeton said in its defence: "Even while the (international CIO Stephen H Dover) was a member of the investment committee, he neither directed its functioning nor interfered in its decision making authority." Also, that the international CIO's role for India was focused on ensuring the investment process was consistent with global best practices and with evaluating the functioning of India operations.

However, not pleased with Franklin's explanations, Sebi said if the said CIO only had to ensure due-diligence, risk management and compliance standards, and adhere to global best practices, there was no need to include him in the investment committee.

"There are records of e-mails exchanged and call log details confirming the communication between Indian Fixed Income CIO and International CIO...It is not possible to quantify the amount of disproportionate gain or unfair advantages made or amount of loss caused to investors," added Sebi, in its order.