Indian Financial System

Financial Market Regulation in India (Guidelines Issued by RBI and SEBI)

Guidelines Issued by Reserve Bank of India for the Regulation of Financial Markets

1) Management oversight, policy/operational guidelines – The management of a Primary Dealer should bear primary responsibility for ensuring maintenance of appropriate standards of conduct and adherence to proper procedures by the entity. Primary Dealers (PD) should frame and implement suitable policy guidelines on securities transactions. Operational procedures and controls in relation to the day-to-day business operations should also be worked out and put in place to ensure that operations in securities are conducted in accordance with sound and acceptable business practices. With the approval of respective Boards, the PDs should clearly lay down the broad objectives to be followed while undertaking transactions in securities on their own account and on behalf of clients, clearly define the authority to put through deals, procedure to be followed while putting through deals, and adhere to prudential exposure limits, policy regarding dealings with brokers, systems for management of various risks, guidelines for valuation of the portfolio and the reporting systems etc.… Read the rest

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Financial Market Regulation: Meaning and Objectives

Financial Market Regulation

The nature of securities markets is such that they are inherently susceptible to failures due to the existence of information asymmetries and existence of high transaction costs. It needs to be emphasized that when securities markets come into existence, the interest of the member brokers are taken care of through margin requirements, barriers to entry of membership, listing agreements. However the investors/clients who buy and sell via their brokers are not able to form an organization to safeguard their interests due to the cost of creation of such organizations and free rider problems. The distinctive nature of the market can be observed with reference to the commodity, its quality, the system of transactions and the participants in the market, as follows:

(a) the commodity(the security)has a life to perpetuity.… Read the rest

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Ketan Parekh Scam and it’s Impact on Financial Institutions

Ketan Parekh was threatening to sue the Bank of India for defamation, because it complained about the bouncing of Rs 1.3-billion pay orders issued to the broker by the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank. He seemed to suggest there is nothing more that the authorities would be able to pin against him.

At last investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Board of India reveal that the sheer magnitude of money moved around by Parekh or available to him for his market manipulation was a staggering Rs 64 billion.

Money abroad

The CBI called a press conference to announce it had unearthed a Swiss bank account in which Parekh was listed as the beneficiary.… Read the rest

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Article on Indian Stock Market Scam: “The Ketan Parekh scam was an example of the inherently weak financial, regulatory and legal set up in India.”

Ketan Parekh is a Mumbai based share and stock broker. He is from a well to do share-brokerage based family. He was involved in the shares scam of the year 2000/01.

The study by SEBI found that the flow of funds originating from Ketan Parekh, when paired with securities market transactions of connected clients leads to the possibility that these trades were executed to confuse the funds trail and to integrate the money originating from the banned stock broker into the system of banking.

Ketan’s possible involvement was found by SEBI during its investigation into professed manipulative trading in the scripts of Cals Refineries Limited, Confidence Petroleum India Limited, Bang Overseas Limited, Shree Precoated Steels Limited and Temptation Foods Limited.… Read the rest

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Interest Rate Administration by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during Global Recession/Subprime Crisis

The subprime crises triggered by a dramatic rise in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures in the United States, lead to major adverse consequences for banks and financial markets around the globe. Administered interest rates are one of the major measures for controlling the money supply in an economy. Bank rate, repo rate and reverse repo rate are administered by the Reserve Bank of India. The records show high fluctuation in the interest rates in the past in India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made drastic cuts in interest rates during the recession period to make sure that the banks and individuals get the benefit of higher credit availability.… Read the rest

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Operational Risks in Banks

“Operational Risk is defined as the risk of direct or indirect loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and system or from external events.”

Generally, operational risk is defined as any risk, which is not categorized as market or credit risk, or the risk of loss arising from various types of human or technical error. It is also synonymous with settlement or payments risk and business interruption, administrative and legal risks. Operational risk has some form of link between credit and market risks. An operational problem with a business transaction could trigger a credit or market risk.

Indeed, so significant has operational risk become that the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) has proposed that, as of 2006, banks should be made to carry a Capital cushion against losses from this risk.… Read the rest

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