Capital Markets
Change: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has mandated the intermediary reporting financial institution (RFI) to upload Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) certifications obtained from clients in the system of know-your-customer registration agencies (KRAs) from July 1, 2024.
Impact: It will bring uniformity to the system, and investors won’t have to submit the FATCA report to different institutions while making investments.
Change: Sebi issues guidelines for scrutinising draft offer documents for public issues of securities and return them to the issuer for resubmission.
Impact: The guidelines came after Sebi observed that the draft offer documents for public issues often did not meet the requirements specified in the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements (ICDR) Regulations. This often led to the need for revisions, leading to delays in processing. This change is now expected to provide greater clarity to investors before they make their investments in the securities market.
Insurance
Change: To provide health insurance policyholders with an equal choice of Allopathic or AYUSH treatment, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (Irdai) has modified the model product. Acording to the revised circular, expenses incurred for inpatient care treatment under Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy systems of medicines will get up to 100 per cent coverage of the sum insured during each policy year as specified in the insurance policy.
Impact: It will allow policyholders to choose the system of medicine they want for their treatment. It will apply to persons with disabilities (PWD), persons with HIV/AIDS, and those with mental health issues. The change will come into force from April 1, 2024.
Change: Irdai has advised insurers to enhance their efforts in tracing the rightful recipient of unpaid amounts and ensure efficient disbursement. Insurers shall make all possible efforts to pay the dues as soon as possible, adopt the suggested measures, and submit a statement by the 15th of every month.
Impact: This will put the onus on insurers to track the beneficiary and report to Irdai every month. It will also help policyholders who have not claimed their amount. Irdai has also made insurance agents or intermediaries accountable for the same. It will reduce orphan policies, where agents abandon customers after selling the policy.
Pension
Change: The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has decided to bring in additional security features through Aadhaar-based authentication for login to the Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) system. From April 2024, the process will be integrated with the current user ID and password-based login and make the system secure through the two-factor authentication.
Impact: The National Pension System (NPS) accounts will become more secure for subscribers with two-factor authentication.
*List is not exhaustive | Compiled by Kundan Kishore