Sebi mulls amending investor charter for stock brokers to protect consumers

Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday proposed reviewing the investor charter for stock brokers in a bid to boost financial consumer protection alongside enhanced financial inclusion and financial literacy.

The proposal is also in view of the recent developments in the securities market including introduction of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform and SCORES 2.0 - a web based centralized grievance redressal system of Sebi.

In its consultation paper, Sebi has proposed to modify the investor charter for stock brokers and sought comments on the proposal till February 17.

The proposed modified charter would include vision, mission, services provided to investors by brokers, various activities of brokers with timelines, DOs and DON'Ts for investors, grievance redressal mechanism and handling of investor's claims in case of default of a trading member along with the format for investor complaints data to be displayed by brokers on their respective websites and trend of annual disposal of complaints.

Additionally, Sebi has suggested advising brokers to bring the charter to the notice of their clients by disclosing it on their respective websites, making them available at prominent places in the office, and providing a copy of it as a part of account opening kit to the clients, through e-mails/letters.

Also, all the brokers will continue to disclose on their respective websites, the data on complaints received against them or against issues dealt by them and redressal thereof, latest by 7th of succeeding month.

Sebi in December 2021 issued investor charter for brokers detailing the services provided to investors, rights of investors, various activities of brokers with timelines, DOs and DON'Ts for investors and grievance redressal mechanism among others.

This was aimed at facilitating investor awareness about various activities which an investor deals with, such as opening of account, KYC and in person verification, complaint resolution, issuance of contract notes and various statements.