SEBI simplifies requirements for grant of accreditation to investors

SEBI, in order to provide flexibility and facilitate ease of accreditation of investors, has decided to simplify the requirements for grant of accreditation to investors as under:

1. Accreditation Agencies ,which are also KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs),may access Know Your Customer (KYC) documents of applicants available with them in capacity of KRA and may also access the same from the database of other KRAs, for the purpose of accreditation.
2. The Accreditation agencies shall grant accreditation solely based on the KYC and the financial information of the applicants.
3. To this effect, the accreditation certificate issued by accreditation agencies shall include the following disclaimer: “the assessment of the applicant for accreditation is solely based on the applicant’s KYC and financial information and does not in any manner exempt market intermediaries and pooled investment vehicles from carrying out necessary due diligence of the accredited investors at the time of on-boarding them as their clients.”
4. The validity period of the accreditation certificate has been revised as under: If the applicant meets the eligibility criteria for preceding one financial year, the accreditation certificate issued shall be valid for a period of two years from the date of issuance.(earlier the accreditation was valid for one year).
5. If the applicant meets the eligibility criteria in each of the preceding two financial years, the accreditation certificate issued shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of issuance (earlier the accreditation was valid for maximum two years).
6. If the applicant is a newly incorporated entity, which does not have financial information for the preceding financial year but meets the applicable net-worth criteria as on the date of application, the accreditation certificate issued shall be valid for a period of two years from the date of issuance.