On Sept 3, 2015 the Government had notified the
merger of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with SEBI with effective from
September 28, 2015 and, accordingly, the “Forward Contracts Regulation Act
(FCRA) 1952 will get repealed and Regulation of Commodity Derivatives Market
will shift to SEBI under Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA) 1956 with
effect from Sept 28, 2015.
Now Ahead of FMC merger with SEBI itself, SEBI has notified
crucial amendments relating to stock exchanges and clearing corporations. Amendments have
been made in SEBI (Stock Brokers and Sub-Brokers) Regulations, 1992
and Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing
Corporations) Regulations, 2012. These new norms will also come into force on September 28, 2015,
the date from which SEBI shall start regulating the commodity derivatives
market as a unified regulator
Key highlights of the
amendments are:
1)
Clearing member, Brokers and
Clearing Corporations of Commodity derivative exchange and SEBI brought
together:
Now definition of ‘clearing member’ and ‘self-clearing
member’ has been amended to include any
person having clearing and settlement rights on a commodity derivatives
exchange
Earlier the ‘clearing member’ meant a person having
clearing and settlement rights in any recognised clearing corporation
2)
Annual regulatory fees For members Dealing In
Commodity Derivatives: Under amended norms, a
regional commodity derivatives exchange shall have to pay to SEBI an annual
regulatory fee of Rs 50,000 within 30 days of conclusion of the relevant
financial year, according to the amended norms.
3)
Net worth and Deposits requirements for Members
dealing in Commodity Derivatives –Under
amended norms, in the case of national commodity derivatives exchanges, the net
worth for a self clearing member should be Rs 1 crore and for a clearing
member, the same should be Rs 3 crore.
The deposit amount in
the case of national commodity derivative exchange would be Rs 50 lakh for both
self-clearing and clearing members.
4)
3-years transitional period for settlements under new SEBI norms: Under amended norms, the Commodity derivative Exchanges have been
allowed to continue with the existing arrangement for clearing and settlement
of trades for a period not exceeding three years from the date of commencement
of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing
Corporations) (Amendment) Regulations, 2015.
