Sebi panel recommends top officials make public disclosures of assets

The Indian markets regulator's chairman and senior officers should make public their assets and liabilities to boost transparency and accountability, a panel recommended on Wednesday (November 12).

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 of a financial and non-financial nature to the finance ministry.

The panel's report will be taken to the board of the markets regulator before any decisions are taken on its recommendation, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, SEBI Chairman, told Reuters on Wednesday. The panel's recommendations, if accepted, would bring SEBI in line with global practices. In the US, Securities and Exchange Commission officials publicly file their assets, liabilities and transactions annually.

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The panel was set up after the previous SEBI chief, Madhabi Puri Buch, faced charges of conflict of interest from the now-shuttered Hindenburg Research, which alleged that Buch previously held investments in offshore funds connected to the Adani Group, which was being investigated. 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.