Paper Work

Those who frame policies in government are apparently different from those who write the rules, and each group is indifferent to what the other is up to. This revelation dawned upon me when I ordered some UTI units recently and was confronted by a familiar broker with the following documents to execute besides the usual sale note:

A 6-clause member-client agreement on stamp paper, covenanting what will happen if the client goes bust or gets bumped off, and some more clauses which are either already implied in the sale note or can be incorporated with very slight modification, if at all needed.

A 14-point individual client registration form enquiring, amongst other things, about ones educational qualifications, annual income, market value of portfolio, etc.

Apart from the fact that neither document adds anything to the security of either the seller or the buyer or even the broker, it is curious that transactions in securities should become more complex when deregulation is supposed to be the flavour of the day.