Market regulator cracks whip on front runners at Reliance Securities

In a massive crackdown against front-runners, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) imposed a stock market ban on more than two dozen individuals. Sebi also ordered impounding of their bank accounts to an extent of the alleged illicit gains made by these individuals.

The market regulator passed a 55-page interim order in the matter of front running trading activity by dealers of Reliance Securities. Between December 2019 and April 2020, Sebi’s internal alert system generated front running alerts.

Front running is a term used to describe a broker, or any other entity, carrying out trades based on foreknowledge of a big transaction to be placed, typically by an institutional investor.

In this case, some dealers and their connected entities are suspected of front-running trades of Tata Absolute Return Fund, a scheme of Tata Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), which used to place its trades through four dealers at Reliance Securities.