A section of the press has published reports highlighting surge in surrender of certificates of registration by sub brokers during the period April - September, 2013. In this regard, it is clarified as follows;
SEBI vide circular dated November 6, 2009 introduced the concept of the 'Authorized Person' (AP) facilitating registered stock brokers of stock exchanges to provide access to clients through these Authorised Persons. The role of the AP is akin to the role of sub broker like assisting the investors in buying, selling or dealing in securities through stock-brokers. The AP is required to be approved only by stock exchange and does not require registration with SEBI.
As per records, SEBI has approved 13,396 surrender applications of sub brokers between April to September, 2013.
During the period from April to September 2013, the net addition of APs is 15,465 {number of approvals granted to APs is 23, 703 minus number of surrender of APs is 8,238} which is more than the number (13,396) of surrender of registration of sub brokers. It is observed that increasingly the entities are seeking approval as APs rather than acting as sub brokers.
The comparison of registration / surrender of sub brokers vis-à-vis approvals / surrenders of APs during the period April 2013 to September 2013 are as under;
Financial Year | No. of Sub Brokers | No. of Authorised Persons | ||
| registered by SEBI | whose surrender of registration approved by SEBI | approved by Stock Exchanges | whose surrenders approved by Stock Exchanges |
2013-14 (From April to September, 2013) | 210 | 13,396 | 23,703 | 8,238 |
The total number of registered Sub Brokers and approved Authorised Persons (AP) is given below:
| As on March 31, 2013 | As on Sept 30, 2013 |
No. of | 70,178 | 56,992 |
No. of | 1,25,273 | 1,40,738 |