Forex, G-sec buying to be made easier for retail clients

Banks would be allowed to charge customers a 'pre-agreed flat fee' towards administrative expenses

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set the ball rolling to ease the pain of retail investors wanting to deal in foreign exchange (forex) and government securities (G-secs). The central bank has proposed to provide retail clients direct access to the inter-bank electronic trading platform, the mechanism used for order-matching. 

“Such a mechanism will provide transparency while enhancing competition and lead to better pricing for customers. Direct execution of orders by the customer would bring down the risk that banks face in warehousing transactions until they can be aggregated to a market lot,” the central bank said in a statement. 

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