Sebi asks mutual funds, AIFS, portfolio managers to keep investors well informed

Markets regulator Sebi asked mutual funds, portfolio managers and alternate investment funds (AIFs) to disclose investors' charter as well as data pertaining to complaints they received.

For mutual funds and portfolio managers, Sebi said they are advised to disclose the investor charter on their websites, as per separate circulars.

For AIFs, Sebi said they should bring investor charter to the notice of investors through private placement memorandum(PPM) in case of new schemes and for existing schemes, as a one-time measure, they should disclose it to the investors on their registered e-mail.

In addition, mutual funds are required to disclose the details of investor complaints on their respective websites as well as on the AMFI website on a monthly basis in the prescribed format.

Further, mutual funds are advised to display links/options to lodge complaints with them directly on their websites and mobile apps.

Additionally, the link to the SCORES website and the link to download the mobile application shall also be provided on their website.

Portfolio managers also need to disclose the data on their websites pertaining to complaints including SCORES complaints, on monthly basis.

The data needs to be disclosed latest by the seventh of the succeeding month, Sebi said in separate circulars. In case of AIFs, they have to disclose investors' complaints data as a separate chapter in the PPM, for new schemes.

For existing schemes, such data needs to be disclosed by way of updating the PPM within one month of the end of each financial year.

The move is aimed at bringing further transparency to the investor grievance redressal mechanism. These disclosure requirements are in addition to those already mandated by Sebi. The circulars will come into effect from January 1, 2022.