Sebi bars Adroit Corporate Services from onboarding new clients for 3 months

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday barred a share transfer agent from registering new clients as it did not maintain specimen signatures in relation to processing requests for dematerialisation, transfer and issue of duplicate share certificates.

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday barred a share transfer agent from registering new clients as it did not maintain specimen signatures in relation to processing requests for dematerialisation, transfer and issue of duplicate share certificates. Adroit Corporate Services Pvt Ltd has been restrained from onboarding new clients for three months, Sebi said in an order.

Adroit was found to have violated the code of conduct of RTA (Registrar to an Issue and Share Transfer Agent) Regulations. During an inspection carried out by Sebi from April 2013 to December 2015, it was found that Adroit had failed to maintain specimen signatures of shareholders holding shares in physical form in the companies serviced by it.

Besides, the watchdog observed that the agent was processing requests for dematerialisation in the scrip of Mitshi India and Transchem even in respect of physical folios where specimen signatures were not available. Among others, the conduct of Adroit in processing dematerialisation requests has not been in compliance with the code of conduct specified under the RTA Regulations, it said.

Sebi also said that Adroit had failed to exercise due diligence and proper care, and fulfil its obligations in a prompt, ethical and professional manner.