Dvara Research BlogDvara Research Blog
Dvara Research Blog
Doorway to Financial Access
  • Home
  • Our Work
  • Themes
  • Subscribe
    • Email Subscription
    • Feed
  • Contact Us
Menu back  

Insights from the “Digital Investments Roundtable” hosted by the Future of Finance Initiative

August 10, 2017Leave a commentEvents Viewed : 2931

(This post is authored by the Future of Finance Team at the IFMR Finance Foundation).

In the first and second posts of this series on the three Future of Finance Initiative (FFI) workshops hosted in April, we focused on digital payments and digital credit respectively. This blog summarises the key insights from the third workshop on digital investments. The workshop was attended by providers with a strong digital interface from across the investments ecosystem in India. We thank the participants for their frank and open views presented at the discussions.

The retail investments landscape in India is currently in the process of being disintermediated with the operating model of traditional providers and associated intermediaries being relooked at by fintech players in this space. Given this background and realising the continuing need for high-quality investment products for rural low-income households, we wanted to understand:

  • How are providers providing solutions relevant to new market segments?
  • Where are the risks and vulnerabilities across the chain of the players and processes associated with making digital investments?

In doing so, we found ourselves asking the following questions of the curated group of participants:

  • How are providers dealing with any issues around (a) segregation of investments advice and product sale, and (b) customer data protection?
  • What are the operational pain points for providers which are either created by or can be solved by policy and regulation intervention?

The first session at the workshop focussed on the current state of digital investments in India and was used to frame the discussion. An interesting visual from this discussion (reproduced below) was the geographic distribution of mutual funds sales in the country, which reveals that Western and Southern states have generated the majority of such investments. It was pointed out that in contrast, the penetration of life insurance is better in eastern parts of India. However, despite the growth of the mutual fund industry being significant in terms of absolute numbers, as a percentage of GDP, it is still estimated to be very low at 8.4% (as of 2016).[1]

Graphic: Geographic spread of mutual fund products (Source: Association of Mutual Funds in India) (Note: Legend in the graphic pertains to the average assets under management in Rs. crore)

Views on the future trends in the investments space and the role of regulation

Both offline and online consumer interfaces will continue to be critical: There was consensus among the participants that hybrid business models, incorporating both online and offline product distribution channels would prevail in the near future. It was however noted that there is a supporting environment in the form of digital public infrastructure (such as Aadhaar and India Stack) which has provided impetus for digital transactions in this space and that technology has enabled almost real time access to investments which was previously not the case.

The need for differentiated KYC processes: Some of the participants questioned the need for completing the full ‘know your customer’ process (including ‘in-person verification’) as a pre-requisite for investments in mutual funds since investor funds were moved from a KYC compliant bank account of the investor to the asset management company. One of the suggestions in this regard was to make full KYC a pre-requisite to redeem mutual fund investments and also put in place risk based KYC processes instead of uniform KYC processes irrespective of the nature and amount of investments.

On the role of industry standards and sector practices: The participants noted that there are currently no regulations regarding protection and security of an investor’s personal data which apply to entities operating in this sector. Some of the participants highlighted their internal best practices such as conducting vendor due diligence before sharing personal data and having robust data security protocols driven in part by shareholder requirements (especially for companies which have received venture capital funding).

On complaints mechanisms: The participants agreed on the need to strengthen grievance redressal mechanism to ensure better investor outcomes and suggested that investor awareness programmes (which are applicable to product manufacturers) be made outcome based, for instance by measuring the number of retail investors which take up mutual fund investments as a result of participating in or being exposed to awareness programmes. It should be noted in this regard that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) currently requires depositories and asset management companies/registrar and transfer agencies to put in place ‘proper grievance redressal mechanism’ that is required to be communicated to the investors through the consolidated account statements.[2]

Role of agents and robo-advisory in the context of investment products

On treatment of advice and sale: Participants were keen to discuss the policy focus on separating advice and sale of investment products and commented that SEBI should consider regulating the quality of advice provided by agents. It should be noted that SEBI had recently put out a Consultation Paper on Amendments/Clarifications to the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 (available here) in this regard.

Some of the participants took a view that the current Indian market for portfolio advice is not at all data driven and potentially harmful advice is being provided to investors. It was also pointed out that the pass-through of commissions (received by insurance and mutual fund distributors) to investors is a rampant practice in India.

The promise of some of the new developments and digital investments is that more data flows can improve the range and quality of service in this space.

On considerations for robo-advisory services: The role of robo-advisory, i.e., providing financial advice with minimal human intervention, in investment advisory was also discussed. These advice algorithms could add value in terms of customising advice for consumers. There was recognition that training algorithm based investment advisory could retain the biases of human advisors which needed to be addressed in the long term and there were questions around the manner of selection of funds recommended by robo-advisors.

On disclosure: There was general consensus in the room that the onus should be on advisors to read offer documents and other disclosures and give informed advice to investors, instead of expecting potential investors to do so themselves.

—
About the Future of Finance Initiative:

The Future of Finance Initiative (FFI) is housed within IFMR Finance Foundation and aims to promote policy and regulatory strategies that protect citizens accessing finance given the sweeping changes that are reshaping retail financial services in India – including those driven by Indiastack, Payments Banks, mobile usage and the growing P2P market.

—

[1] Attributed to Mr. NK Prasad, President and CEO at Computer Age Management Services Private Limited. Please see MF investments rising in smaller towns: CAMS, The Tribune, 28 December 2016. Available at: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/business/mf-investments-rising-in-smaller-towns-cams/342616.html.
[2] As per paragraph 14.3.2.8 of the SEBI Master Circular for Mutual Funds, 2016.

Share Via :Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Email this to someone
email
digital investmentsFFI-WorkshopFuture of Finance
Leave Comment

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

fourteen − thirteen =

clear formSubmit

Related posts
Primer on Designing Optimal Regulation
April 4, 2019
Primer on Consumer Data Infrastructure
April 4, 2019
Primer on Suitability for Consumer Data Use and Product Design
April 3, 2019
Primer on Consumer Data Regulation
April 2, 2019
The 4th Dvara Research Conference on Regulating Data-driven Finance
April 1, 2019
Proceedings of the Participant Sessions at the Workshop on Suitability in Microcredit
December 10, 2018
Search
Recent Comments
  • Srikara Prasad on Artificial Intelligence in Digital Credit in India: “Thank you for the feedback and for sharing these resources, Mr Rathi. They will definitely be helpful in our work.”
  • Harshit Rathi on Artificial Intelligence in Digital Credit in India: “Hi, Wonderful article on the use of AI/ML for digital credit in India. As rightly mentioned in the article, many…”
  • Srikara Prasad on Artificial Intelligence in Digital Credit in India: “Thank you, Bindu. Our upcoming posts on regulation of AI in finance will benefit from these pointers. It will be…”
Subscribe and Follow Us

Popular Post

Popular Post
  • Making Grievances Matter: Unpacking Exclusion, Grievance Redress, and the Role of Civil Society Organisations
    March 2, 2021
  • Access, Redressal & Finance in Uttar Pradesh: The Farmers in Rural Uttar Pradesh
    February 19, 2021
  • Consumer Grievance Redress in Financial Disputes in India
    February 18, 2021

Categories

Categories
  • Channels(88)
  • Consumer Protection(33)
  • Events(30)
  • Featured(31)
  • Field Reports(6)
  • From the field(9)
  • General(22)
  • Guest(29)
  • Household Research(75)
  • Long Term Debt Markets(9)
  • News(45)
  • Origination(30)
  • Products(42)
  • Regulation(112)
  • Research(176)
  • Risk Aggregation(26)
  • Risk transmission(63)
  • Small Cities(21)
  • Technology(25)
  • Uncategorized(105)
  • Unemployment Support(5)

Archives

Archives
  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (8)
  • January 2021 (4)
  • December 2020 (7)
  • November 2020 (7)
  • October 2020 (11)
  • September 2020 (10)
  • August 2020 (12)
  • July 2020 (3)
  • June 2020 (5)
  • May 2020 (8)
  • April 2020 (4)
  • March 2020 (8)
  • February 2020 (3)
  • January 2020 (9)
  • December 2019 (4)
  • November 2019 (3)
  • October 2019 (7)
  • September 2019 (3)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (4)
  • June 2019 (4)
  • May 2019 (4)
  • April 2019 (7)
  • March 2019 (2)
  • February 2019 (3)
  • January 2019 (3)
  • December 2018 (5)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (5)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (5)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (5)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (3)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (3)
  • May 2017 (4)
  • April 2017 (3)
  • March 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (3)
  • January 2017 (6)
  • December 2016 (5)
  • November 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (5)
  • August 2016 (4)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (8)
  • May 2016 (4)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (4)
  • February 2016 (3)
  • January 2016 (3)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2015 (3)
  • August 2015 (5)
  • July 2015 (3)
  • June 2015 (3)
  • May 2015 (3)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (3)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • December 2014 (5)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • September 2014 (4)
  • August 2014 (4)
  • July 2014 (4)
  • June 2014 (8)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (4)
  • March 2014 (5)
  • February 2014 (6)
  • January 2014 (8)
  • December 2013 (7)
  • November 2013 (8)
  • October 2013 (7)
  • September 2013 (7)
  • August 2013 (5)
  • July 2013 (6)
  • June 2013 (7)
  • May 2013 (6)
  • April 2013 (8)
  • March 2013 (9)
  • February 2013 (6)
  • January 2013 (9)
  • December 2012 (8)
  • November 2012 (7)
  • October 2012 (5)
  • September 2012 (5)
  • August 2012 (5)
  • July 2012 (7)
  • June 2012 (4)
  • May 2012 (6)
  • April 2012 (4)
  • March 2012 (7)
  • February 2012 (6)
  • January 2012 (8)
  • December 2011 (8)
  • November 2011 (7)
  • October 2011 (8)
  • September 2011 (7)
  • August 2011 (3)
  • July 2011 (6)
  • June 2011 (11)
  • May 2011 (8)
  • April 2011 (9)
  • March 2011 (13)
  • February 2011 (10)
  • January 2011 (8)
  • December 2010 (10)
  • November 2010 (10)
  • October 2010 (10)
  • September 2010 (7)
  • August 2010 (13)
  • July 2010 (10)
  • June 2010 (6)
  • May 2010 (13)
  • April 2010 (7)
  • March 2010 (10)
  • February 2010 (5)
  • January 2010 (4)
  • December 2009 (3)
  • November 2009 (1)
  • October 2009 (6)
  • August 2009 (1)
  • July 2009 (2)
  • June 2009 (1)
  • May 2009 (1)
  • April 2009 (1)
  • March 2009 (1)
Share Via :Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Email this to someone
email
Site Map

www.dvara.com