Amfi board discusses Sumit Bose report, seeks member views

Mutual fund industry body Amfi has sought the views of all its members on the feasibility of suggestions made by the Sumit Bose committee report.
Amfi today convened a special board meeting here to discuss the report.
"Even as a final view on the implementation part of the Sumit panel report is to be looked at by the regulators, we have asked our 44 members to give their views," Amfi chief HN Sinor told PTI after the board meeting.
He said no timeframe has been given to the members for furnishing their opinion on the report.
The panel, headed by former finance secretary Sumit Bose, had submitted its report to the finance ministry recently and has recommended that mutual fund houses be allowed to manage the funds which are currently being invested by insurers and pension fund managers.

The committee has also recommended that there can be various regulators for the same product keeping in view the different functions of the product. For instance it wants Sebi to regulate the investments made by Ulip funds, while IRDA to regulate the insurance part of the same fund.

Currently, Ulips are regulated by the insurance regulator Irda, while mutual funds are controlled by the markets regulator Sebi.
The panel has also called for measures to curb mis-selling of financial products and rationalising distribution incentives, has called for a complete phase out of any upfront fees for agents.
"Distributors/advisors always have helped in increasing market penetration and have brought MF investments closer to the investors. But one drawbacks of the system, we feel, is the lack of appropriate disclosure of fees that fund houses pay distributors. Any commission paid is generally not disclosed, which compromises the economic interest of the investor," Quantum AMC chief executive Jimmy Patel said.