Default Settlement Norms Of Exchanges Lack Clarity

Investors in a daze over conflicting positions on cap per member, time to file a claim

- Palak Shah

There is a lot of confusion over the new criteria of stock exchanges with regard to the settlement of investor claims against defaulting brokers.

A public notice by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on January 14, 2020, in the context of a defaulting broker, said there would be a cap or limit per member for settling claims from the investor protection fund (IPF). In a subsequent notice issued in February, the NSE did not mention any such criteria. While the January circular said the deadline for filing claims had been set at three months, the February circular said claims will be accepted for six months.

Between November 2019 and February 2020, the exchange has issued a number of public notices with regard to brokers, including Allied Financial Services, Fairwealth, BMA and VRISE. Each of these has set different criteria, which do not find mention in the latest February notice.

No response from NSE

Investors protesting against the lack of clarity told BusinessLine that if there is a cap per broker member in settling investor claims, it is restrictive. Also, the exchange said that claims against defaulters have to be filed within three months against two or three years earlier.