In a meeting today attended by depositories and major stock exchanges, theissue of inspections of the accounts was discussed so that a tighter watchcould be kept on the utilisation of balances in the pool account.

Sebi sources said that their interactions with the top 15 brokers revealedthat the average balances in their accounts ranged from 15 to 20 lakh shareseach. "In some cases the balance was as high as 60 lakh shares," Sebisources said.

Sebi sources said that the total value of the shares in the pool accountwould have to be computed, based on the scrips and the prices at which theywere traded.

Along with the stock exchanges, the securities watchdog will also subjectclearing members to inspection asking them to submit details of theirtransactions vis-a-vis the balance in the pool accounts.

At present the brokers being members of the stock exchanges are answerableonly to the respective exchange authorities and they do not send anydata to Sebi. However, in view of the complaints received and theseriousness of the allegations against brokers, the markets regulator hasdecided to get into the act.

NSE sources said that stock exchanges do monitor pool accounts of theirmembers, where the latter have to send statements of their transactions on aperiodic basis. At Wednesday's meeting it was decided to further strengthenthe monitoring and surveillance activities and a clear demarcationis madebetween the balances which belonging to the clients and those arising fromthe brokerage firm's own proprietary transactions.Normally brokers have toclear the pool account within 15 days but it gets delayed due to tardinesson the part of both broker and client.