Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI, has introduced an online registration mechanism for custodians of securities to make it convenient for them to do business.
A custodian is a financial institution that holds customers’ securities for safekeeping to minimize the risk of their theft or loss.
A custodian holds securities and other assets in electronic or physical form. Since they are responsible for the safety of assets and securities that may be worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, custodians generally tend to be large and reputable firms.
The new system will help custodian of securities to complete registration and other regulatory filings with Sebi much faster and in a cost-effective manner.
All applicants desirous of seeking registration as a Custodian of Securities are now required to submit their applications online only, through SEBI Intermediary Portal.
The new system has been made operational with immediate effect.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech for 2017-18 announced that the process of registration of financial market intermediaries will be made fully online by SEBI.