Indian brokerages fined by SEC Three of India's largest brokerage firms and a smaller competitor have been fined nearly $2m by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for soliciting investors in the US without registering with regulators. Motilal Oswal Securities, Edelweiss Financial Services, JM Financial Institutional Securities and Ambit Capital each agreed to settle individual allegations that they violated registration requirements by setting up meetings between executives from companies listed on Indian exchanges and US institutional investors from 2007-11. According to the SEC, Motilal employees travelled to the US regularly to meet investors. While there they discussed the firm's analysts" research reports on Indian companies and attended road shows. Motilal received $13.7m in compensation from transactions involving 42 US institutional investors, the SEC alleged. In settling, the brokerage firms neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing. Ambit agreed to pay $30,910, Edelweiss $568,347, JM Financial $443,545 and Motilal $821,594. "The broker-dealer registration provisions are critical safeguards for the integrity of our securities markets," said Scott Friestad, an SEC enforcement attorney. US securities laws require brokers operating in the country to register with the agency to conduct business with US investors. In registering, the firms are required to maintain accurate books and records, among other things. Foreign firms are allowed to solicit US investors if they are "chaperoned" by a registered US brokerage firm. The four Indian brokerage firms were not chaperoned, the SEC said. The SEC said it did not seek a penalty from any of the brokers because they had each taken remedial steps, including entering into chaperon agreements with US brokers or registering with the regulator.