“Given the role that emerging and recently emerged markets play in an increasingly globalised financial world, it is only befitting that the Sebi and SEC work closely for the protection of investors and for ensuring fair, efficient and transparent markets,” Sebi Chairman M Damodaran said in a statement posted on SEC website.

Primary focus

The high level discussions between the two regulators, while promoting capacity building, would also enable both the Sebi and SEC to take suitable joint and collective action where needed, he added.

This year, the proposed discussions between both regulators would primarily focus on regulatory and compliance issues related to outsourcing, cross border co-operation and information sharing in securities enforcement matters, among others.

In this regard, both regulators would have regular meetings and ad hoc information exchange at the staff level and between high-level representatives.

“As financial services and investment continue to grow and expand between the US and India, the SEC and Sebi are increasingly working together to facilitate our aims of investor protection and healthy markets,” SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in the statement.

“The SEC has worked with Sebi over the past few years on extensive capacity-building programmes as well as enforcement matters. I look forward to continuing and strengthening our regulatory and enforcement cooperation with Sebi through this high-level dialogue,” he said.

Further, the dialogue would address issues related to accounting and auditing standards, corporate governance and internal controls and areas for continued capacity-building and technical cooperation.

Hedge funds

The dialogue between both regulators was announced after a two-week, SEC-Sebi capacity-building and technical cooperation session held in India at the end of December last year.

During the capacity-building programmes, different topics including broker-dealer compliance, hedge fund regulatory concerns, broker-dealer and investment adviser inspections and insider trading were discussed, the statement added.

“The SEC staff has engaged in over two dozen projects related to the Indian markets and met with over 1,000 Indian officials. The new dialogue will provide the SEC and Sebi with further opportunities to enhance securities regulation,” Director of the SEC Office of International Affairs Ethiopis Tafara said in the statement.