Wealth funds face tough rules
Jan. 18: The government is pooling in its regulatory resources to frame a comprehensive rule-book for wealth management advisers. It has sought inputs for the same from RBI, Sebi and other financial sector regulators.
The move follows an estimated Rs 400-crore fraud allegedly perpetrated by a relationship manager at a Gurgaon branch of Citibank and the initial probe into the matter pointing towards va-rious loopholes in the existing regulations. Besides RBI and Sebi, other financial sector regulators incl-ude commodity regulator FMC, IRDA and pension fund regulator PFRDA.
After their initial probe into the Citibank case, RBI and Sebi have felt the need for stricter regulations for wealth management advisers, given the surge in the size of assets managed by them.
Although there are no official figures, the size of the wealth management industry is pegged at about $one trillion — nearly double the size a couple of years ago. Sources said the existing practices and regulations for wealth management space from all the regulators will be collated to frame the final guidelines and an announcement could be made in Parliament during the Union Budget.
The issue is likely to be discussed in the next meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council, authorised to deliberate on inter-regulatory matters.
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