JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Bank, has reached a settlement with the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) regarding violations of Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations. The bank agreed to pay a settlement amount of Rs 34 lakh.
The settlement order came after the bank filed a suo-motu settlement application with SEBI “proposing to settle by neither admitting nor denying the findings of facts and conclusions of law,” the regulator said in its order passed on Friday.
The enforcement action follows a series of compliance failures related to the bank’s management of FPI entities.
“The Applicant vide letter dated November 06, 2025, filed revised settlement terms proposing to offer ₹34,42,500/-(Rupees Thirty-Four Lakhs Forty-Two Thousand Five Hundred only) as the settlement amount,” the settlement order read.
Sebi further alleged that after the introduction of the 2019 update to FPI regulations, these same entities were upgraded to Category I status without any verification of their regulatory status. This reclassification bypassed the more rigorous eligibility criteria established by the revised framework.
The Sebi also observed that the bank delayed action on a material change involving an FPI following a merger. Despite being informed on November 1, 2024, JP Morgan took over a month to advise fresh registration and restrict trading.
Following this, SEBI’s High Powered Advisory Committee and a panel of whole-time members approved the settlement terms, after which the bank remitted the amount of Rs 34.42 lakh.
“… in terms of the Settlement Regulations, it is hereby ordered that any proceedings that may be initiated for the violations are settled in respect of the applicant (JP Morgan Chase Bank N A),” SEBI’s Whole Time Members Kamlesh C Varshney and Amarjeet Singh said in the order.
