SEBI probing if Franklin exceeded borrowing limits
March 11, 2021
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To meet redemptions in 6 debt schemes
SEBI is investigating if Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund (FTMF) borrowed far beyond what it was permitted and how it managed to subsequently get a ‘special permission’ to enhance its borrowing limit, mainly to meet the redemptions in the six debt schemes that were shut in April 2020.
This has been revealed in investor complaints to the Finance Ministry, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and SEBI’s vigilance department highlighting that FTMF got special permission to hike the borrowing of the debt schemes from 30 per cent to 40 per cent just one day before it announced the controversial decision to shut them. The complaints have drawn data from FTMF’s own disclosures to the court including SEBI’s special permission.