A panel recommended that the market regulator’s chairman and senior officers should disclose their assets and liabilities to enhance transparency and accountability, says a Reuters report.
The committee has also recommended that applicants for the position of chairman and members of the Securities and Exchange Board of India must disclose actual, potential, and perceived conflict-of-interest risks, both financial and non-financial, to the Finance Ministry.
As per the report, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairman of SEBI, said that the panel’s report will be presented to the SEBI board before any decisions are made based on its recommendations.
At par with global standards
The panel’s recommendations, if accepted, would bring SEBI in line with global practices. In some other countries, such as the United States, the officials publicly file their assets, liabilities and transactions annually.
The panel was established after the previous SEBI chief, Madhabi Puri Buch, faced allegations of conflict of interest from the now-defunct Hindenburg Research. Hindenburg had accused Buch of previously holding investments in offshore funds linked to the Adani group, which was under investigation. Buch and the Adani group had denied the charges.
The panel’s other recommendations include the same trading and investing restrictions for the chairman and ranking officials, in line with those for other employees of the regulator.
