Sebi Board Approves Sharing KYC Details with Financial Regulators

To ensure common Know Your Client (KYC) system for the entire financial sector, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) board on Thursday approved the proposal for sharing KYC details with entities regulated by other financial sector watchdogs.

The move, which comes after a board meeting of the capital market regulator here, would facilitate the KYC process for the investors in the entire financial sector.

At present, the facility of sharing of KYC information is available only among Sebi-registered intermediaries.

"Today we have passed a resolution that the regulation will be amended that will permit that other regulated entities, which are regulated by other regulators they will also have access to the data," Sebi chairman UK Sinha told PTI.

"So this is a move towards aligning one single KYC across the financial market. This is a first move in that direction which will be very very investor friendly."

In its meeting in Delhi, the Sebi board approved the amendment to SEBI KYC Registration Agency Regulations, 2011 for sharing of KYC information available on the centralised system with the entities regulated by other financial sector regulators.

"This would further facilitate the KYC process for the investors in the entire financial sector," Sebi said.

"This will not only reduce the paper-work and bring down cost of operations for the investors as well as for the intermediaries, but will also save the investors from the hassle of getting KYC done again by the intermediaries regulated by other financial sector regulators," it added.

The KYC information is available on the centralised KRA (KYC registration agency) system and holds records of about 1.95 crore investors.

Under the Sebi system, a client who has already done the KYC with any Sebi registered intermediary need not undergo the same process again when he approaches another intermediary.