The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday allowed State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and 14 other banks to accept application supported blocked amount (ASBAs) to enable better participation by corporate investors and high networth individuals (HINs) in initial public offerings or rights issues.
The ASBA facility means that money is not released from the applicant’s account till the shares are allotted to her/him while applying for the IPOs or rights issue.
Besides these two banks, other lenders include Axis Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad, Corporation Bank, State Bank of Travancore, IDBI Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, Deutsche Bank, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Bank of Maharashtra.
These banks have been authorised to accept ASBAs in all issues from January 1, SEBI said in a release.
Earlier this month, Sebi extended the ASBA facility to corporate investors and high net worth individuals (HNIs), which was earlier available only to retail investors.
However, qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) are not eligible to apply for public or rights issues using the ASBA facility.
