SEBI plans to enlist banks to help boost sales of mutual fund schemes, especially the schemes of mutual funds sponsored by banks. However, this move may not work

The much-hyped online mutual fund platforms on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange have mostly turned out to be a no-show. Now, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is making another attempt at boosting the flagging sales of mutual funds by this route. It is trying to rope in banks to give a fillip to the volumes on the online platforms. But this may not work due to a rule by the Reserve Bank of India.

As reported by Moneylife yesterday, the market watchdog has called a high-level meeting with bank-sponsored MFs and their respective retail product heads of the banks. The meeting is expected to be attended by the retail product heads of banks like IDBI Bank, HSBC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank which also have asset management companies which may be represented by their CEOs. At the meeting, SEBI is likely to pressure banks into selling mutual fund products by a variety of means, including using the exchange platform. All these groups have their own large stock-broking firms.

But the current Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines do not allow banks to set up broker terminals inside their premises. This was confirmed by a source from ICICI Bank. Most importantly, SEBI has no jurisdiction in the banking space and it is unlikely that banks will heed its call without the go-ahead from the regulator, RBI. Therefore, SEBI's attempts at having banks push fund sales through the broker terminal route may turn out to be infructuous.

The SEBI move makes sense on paper. Banks have the widest and deepest distribution network of financial products and if any segment can ensure large nationwide distribution it is the banks. Speaking about the development, a spokesperson from the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) said, "Many banks already have the systems and distribution platforms in place. It will be another business opportunity for the bank. If they find it worthwhile they will do it." Another senior official from IBA said, "As banks have a wider reach SEBI might be planning to use that channel to increase the turnover. Banks already have a system of cross-selling of financial products." But having a network is one thing. Making it work for a particular product is another matter.

By dialling banks' helpline, the market regulator is now signalling that it is ready to explore every avenue to push fund sales after net inflows into equity funds started falling from August 2009 when as part of a series of regulatory changes SEBI banned entry load and upfront commissions. This effectively eliminated the well-entrenched incentive-based distribution system of selling mutual funds. With commissions eradicated, mutual funds have found distributors deserting their products in favour of better revenue-yielding products like Unit-linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs).

When fund sales flagged, SEBI probably felt that it needed to take innovative initiatives to push mutual fund sales. One of its brainwaves was offering a system of buying and selling mutual funds through broker terminals. This resulted in the creation of the Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) StAR MF platform and National Stock Exchange's (NSE) NEAT Mutual Fund Service System (MFSS) late last year. This was again a logical move because stockbrokers have a wide network. But there is a fundamental flaw in the idea of getting stockbrokers to sell mutual funds. Brokers make money by getting customers to trade frequently and have little interest in selling mutual funds, the sales of which do not fetch large volumes. Not surprisingly, both platforms have struggled to make any significant inroads, as Moneylife had previously reported. (Read here: http://www.moneylife.in/article/8/3193.html).

Now SEBI has come out with one more trick by getting banks to push mutual fund products especially those of funds belonging to the same group. If the stockbroker network for banks does not work, SEBI will have to get national distributors to try other means to sell funds.