The Securities and Exchange Board of India on 19th October 2022, decided to allow stock brokers registered under the debt segment of the Stock Exchange(s) to place/ seek bids on the RFQ platform on behalf of client(s), in addition to the existing option of placing bids in a proprietary capacity with effect from 1st January 2023. In February 2020, pursuant to approvals from SEBI, both National Stock Exchange of India Limited and BSE Limited launched RFQ platforms, as an extension of their existing trade execution and settlement platforms, to bring in transparency in “Over the Counter” deals which were negotiated bilaterally.
RFQ is an electronic platform to enable sophisticated, multi-lateral negotiations to take place on a centralized online trading platform with straight-through-processing of clearing and settlement to complete a trade.
Basic features of the RFQ platform:
- The RFQ platform is a system or interface for inviting and/ or giving quotes on an electronic platform.
- A participant who seeks quote(s) is termed as an Initiator and a participant who acts/ responds to the quote requests of the Initiator is termed as a Responder and the participant may request other participants for a quote for eligible securities.
- The Initiator has the option to place quote(s) by disclosing its name or anonymously. The quote can be placed to an identified counterparty (i.e. ‘One to One’ (OTO) mode) or to all the participants (i.e. ‘One to Many’ (OTM) mode).
- The platform provides the participants a range of options to seek a quote and to respond to a quote, while keeping an audit trail of all interactions i.e. quoted yield, mutually agreed price, deal terms etc.
- The quotes will be bilaterally negotiated between the counterparties, based on specified parameters. The acceptance of a quote by a participant will be considered as mutual agreement between the parties for the given deal.
SEBI has been receiving representations from market participants to permit stock brokers to place bids on behalf of their clients to facilitate wider market participation in the corporate bond market. After consideration and deliberations, it has been decided to allow stock brokers registered under the debt segment of the Stock Exchange(s) to place/ seek bids on the RFQ platform on behalf of client(s), in addition to the existing option of placing bids in a proprietary capacity.
