Sebi revamps mutual fund, demat nomination to reduce unclaimed assets

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has made changes to the rules for handling nominations in mutual funds and demat accounts.

 

Under the new framework, mutual fund and demat account holders will now be required to share personal identifiers of their nominees, such as PAN, driving licence number, or the last four digits of Aadhaar. They will also need to provide full contact details of nominees, including residential address, email, and phone number.

 

Additionally, investors will be able to nominate up to 10 persons.

 

The regulator has also issued detailed guidelines for nominees to act on behalf of incapacitated investors.

 

Mutual funds and brokers will have to provide one of the nominees the option to operate the investor's account if the investor is physically incapacitated. Investors can also specify the percentage or absolute value of assets in the account or folio that can be encashed by such a nominee.

 

"In order to have uniformity in dealing with incapacitated investors and those with special needs, or sick or elderly investors in the securities market, the depositories and AMFI shall put in place a common Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)," Sebi stated.