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  The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday updated its "guidance note" on operational risk management for the financial sector, and also extended it to the NBFCs, including housing finance companies. The 2005 'Guidance Note on Management of Operational Risk' covered only commercial banks.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said an operational disruption can threaten the viability of a regulated entity (RE), impact its customers and other market participants, and ultimately have an impact on financial stability. It can result from man-made causes, Information Technology (IT) threats, geopolitical conflicts, business disruptions, internal/external frauds, execution/delivery errors, third-party dependencies, or natural causes. The latest 'Guidance Note on Operational Risk Management and Operational Resilience' aligns with the RBI's regulatory guidance with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) Principles, the central bank said. The guidance note intends t...

Sebi board on Tuesday decided to amend norms governing mutual funds, whereby asset management companies (AMCs) need to put in place an "institutional mechanism" for identification and deterrence of potential market abuse, including front-running and fraudulent transactions in securities. The mechanism should consist of enhanced surveillance systems, internal control procedures, and escalation processes to identify, monitor and address specific types of misconduct, including front running, insider trading, and misuse of sensitive information, Sebi said in a statement issued after the conclusion of the board meeting. With a view to address the issues faced by venture capital funds (VCFs) registered under the erstwhile VCF norms with respect to their inability to fully liquidate the investments of their schemes within the tenure of the scheme, the Sebi's board has approved a proposal to provide an option to such VCFs to migrate into AIF (Alternative Investment Fund) rules an...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned banks about gold loan disbursals being made through fintech startups, according to people familiar with the matter. The central bank has flagged “concerns with the evaluation process” by these banks and fintechs, especially in cases where the gold is sourced through field agents of companies, one of the persons said. “The regulator has verbally expressed its concerns to a set of banks regarding this and asked them to take corrective actions immediately,” said another person. Rupeek, IndiaGold and Oro Money are a few of the major players that source gold loans for banks. Cautioned banks are in conversations with fintech firms for fixing these issues and could explore pausing business temporarily to ensure complete compliance, the people said. ‘Possible Overvaluation’ Sumit Maniyar, cofounder of Rupeek, which is backed by Peak XV Partners and Accel, said he has not received any communication from his company’s banking partners on this. “RBI h...

Traditionally, all mutual funds, including passive funds, were restricted from investing more than 25 per cent  of their assets in companies belonging to the same group as the fund manager (called the sponsor group). This rule aimed to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure diversification within mutual funds. Passive funds, unlike actively managed funds, track a specific index. Their goal is to mirror the performance of that index as closely as possible. Some sectoral or thematic indexes (focusing on specific sectors or themes) might have a high weighting (importance) for companies within the sponsor group. This weighting could exceed the 25 per cent limit imposed on traditional mutual funds.As a result, passive funds were often unable to perfectly replicate the target index, potentially leading to tracking errors and a slight underperformance compared to the benchmark. For example, ABC Nifty 50 Index Fund cannot invest more than 25% of its NAV in ABC Bank and ABC Life Insurance...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs) to own up to 100 per cent in global funds at the GIFT City and gave passive funds more exposure to group companies.Currently, NRIs and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) cannot own more than 50 per cent in a foreign portfolio investor (FPI). The move could pave the way for greater flows from the Indian diaspora into the domestic stocks. “A 100 per cent contribution limit shall be available subject to the FPI submitting copies of Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards of all their NRI/OCI individual constituents, along with their economic interest in the FPI,” the markets regulator said.Market experts believe a more liberalised regime for NRI/OCIs could lead to twin benefits — boost the fund ecosystem at the GIFT City as well as attract genuine flows from overseas Indians. At present, the combined holdings of NRIs and OCIs in a global fund must be less than 50 per cent, while that of a single N...