Sebi to put onus of detecting price rigging, insider trading on brokers

Asks brokers to maintain whistleblower policy, furnish action-taken report upon spotting fraud; top management to be held accountable for non-compliance

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to put the onus on stock brokers for the identification and surveillance of fraudulent practices such as price manipulation, insider trading, front-running, and spoofing, among others.

Under a proposal floated by the capital market regulator, senior management of the stock broking firms will be responsible for ensuring trade surveillance in compliance with regulatory requirements. These surveillance and control systems will be used to detect, prevent or report fraud or market abuse by clients, promoters, employees or even analogous persons.

Stock brokers will have to assess factors like relations between clients