Bse Allays Members' Fears Over Theft Of Shares

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has assured its members that the clearing house is insured against any theft or loss of shares from BoI Shareholding.

Top BSE directors disclosed this at a meeting with 30 odd brokerage houses, who were facing problems due to late receipt of shares from the clearing house from settlement numbers 13 and 14.

At the meeting, agitated brokers voiced apprehensions about a possible theft of shares. However, exchange officials pacified the members by saying that even in the worst scenario of theft, the clearing house was insured to the tune of nearly Rs 1800 crore.

 

BSE officials told brokers, in case brokers do not receive the shares due to them, the shares will be auctioned in the clearing house's name which in turn will be passed on to the insurance account.

A senior member of the BSE said that this implies that the issues plaguing BoI Shareholding were more than system failures and manpower problems. Market observers feel the BSE should acknowledge that the problems are not merely related to backlogs and system snafus.

Apart from institutional brokerages, a lot of individual brokers, too, were put to inconvenience due to late receipt of shares as the clients refused to honour their pay in .

However, most of the brokers are gradually receiving their shares as a lot of misplaced shares are now being sorted out.

According to BSE officials, it has already despatched the entire lot of shares due to Citibank and Deutsche Bank. Although the exact figures were not available, the value of the outstanding shares to SHCIL is pegged at a couple of crore at present.

So far, none of the shares have been declared as untraceable by the BSE. With the revamp operations in full swing, the mixed up shares are being sorted out and gradually returned to the brokers. Already, the Bombay Stock Exchange has chalked out a seven point programme to tide over the current problem faced by its clearing house, BoI Shareholding.

According to BSE governing board director Deena Mehta, the exchange will get shares held by the clearing house transferred in its name and get them dematerialised. This will reduce the burden on the clearing house to a significant extent.