PR No.104/2008
SEBI BOARD MEETING
The SEBI Board held its meeting in Mumbai today and decided as follows:
Easing of payment process in public / rights issue:
The Board approved, in principle, the concept of marking lien on bank account as an alternative mode of payment in public / rights issues. The concept will enable the application money to remain in the bank account of the applicant till such time the allotment is finalized and thus eliminate the refund process. The modalities in this regard would be worked out separately.
Minimum networth requirement for Portfolio Managers enhanced:
The Board decided to enhance the minimum net worth requirement for registration as a portfolio manager from the existing Rs. 50 lakh to Rs. 2 crore and to give effect to the requirement of maintaining continuous networth separately for portfolio management activities. The existing portfolio managers, whose networth is less than Rs.2 crore will have to increase it to at least Rs. One crore within a period of six months and thereafter to the prescribed networth of Rs. 2 crore in the next six months from the date of notification of amendment to the SEBI (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 1993.
It was also decided that Portfolio Managers should not float a scheme or pool the resources of the client in a way which is akin to mutual fund activity. Accordingly, Portfolio Managers will not be permitted to float a scheme or pool the resources of the clients. They would be required to keep assets of each client separately and not in a pooled manner. A time frame of 6-months from the date of notification has been given to convert their operations managed on pooled basis to individual basis. The necessary amendments would be made to the Regulations.
SEBI (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities) Regulations, 2008:
In its meeting held on January 30, 2008 the Board had approved the draft SEBI (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities) Regulations, 2008. After taking into consideration public comments received, the Board today approved certain amendments to the draft Regulations. The final notification will be issued in due course.
MumbaiMay 13, 2008
