Monday, March 15, 2010

US and UK Getting Tougher on Market Abuse and Insider Trading


Head of UK Financial Services Authority this week said that Britain’s insider trading within the financial services sector is at an “unacceptably high level” A recent article in UK MSN speculated that the recent conviction of insider trader Malcolm Calvert pushed the FSA into action. A 10% rise in regulatory fees will help fund a boost of FSA staff to 3,700, enabling it to become much more pro-active in “tackling the high-risk culture” in financial services.

Similarly, on the other side of the pond, the US financial crisis and the revelation of massive Ponzi schemes from the likes of Madoff and others pressed the SEC into action too. Securities Industry News reported that “a new market abuse unit is building a sophisticated database to go on the offense to catch insider trading.” The SEC will increase its annual spending 11 percent to $1.23 billion, which includes a $12 million boost for technology.

Is there such a thing as a completely fair and open market? Maybe not, but it is certainly something we must strive toward.

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