Sebi board meettoday to discuss market reforms

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will discuss a slew of measures at its board meeting on Wednesday for strengthening the algo trading framework, amending norms for companies undergoing bankruptcy proceedings and increasing regulatory oversight on auditors.

A number of other important matters will also be discussed, such as amendments to rules on angel funds, mutual funds, buyback of shares, takeovers, registrars and bankers to issues as well as suspension and revocation of trading, senior officials said.

With regard to algo trade, the Sebi has proposed a review of trading requirement for algo software for strengthening the algorithmic trading framework by mandating stock exchanges to provide a simulated market environment for testing of software used for such high-frequency trades.

The algo trade has been under public glare because of an ongoing probe concerning the National Stock Exchange.

An official said various measures are being proposed to address the concerns relating to market quality, market integrity and fairness on account of usage of algo trading and co-location.

Further, the regulator may mandate the exchanges to offer shared co-location facilities and providing some services for free.

The Sebi plans to bring in additional disclosure requirements for listed corporates undergoing insolvency resolution process as well as amend norms pertaining to minimum public shareholding norms and other provisions for such entities, the official said.

Amendments are being proposed for certain Sebi norms on the basis of three stages of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process - pre, ongoing and post CIRP stages.

The proposal comes at a time when there is an increasing number of cases coming up under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as entities look to address issues of stressed assets in a time-bound manner.