On 17 December 2018, the FCA published issue 58 of its Market Watch newsletter. This edition focused on the industry-wide review of the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR) and covered the following topics:
- Compliance with MAR
- The FCA noted that the most effective risk-assessments were arrangements and polices that had been modelled on the particular market or specific asset class relating to the company's business. The monitoring of suspicious transactions was seen as requiring further improvement by the industry in general in order to be fully compliant with MAR.
- Market soundings
- The FCA confirmed that it had not detected any impact on the ability of an issuer to raise finance as a consequence of the market sounding regime implemented by MAR. The FCA highlighted that there remained a strong market appetite for using such protections offered by the sounding regime.
- Where companies were implementing market sounding arrangements in the workplace, the FCA noted the benefits of appointing specific teams to decide whether a wall-crossing invitation should be accepted or not.
- The FCA reiterated the importance of recording communications regarding market soundings, as well as encouraging companies to document their reasons for the response (such as accepting or declining a wallcrossing). Where a sounding has been declined, the FCA warned that inside information may have still been transmitted in responding to the invitation.
- Insider lists
- The standard of insider lists is an area in which the industry needs to improve, according to the FCA's review. The use of permanent insider lists should be limited to employees who have access to inside information at all times.
Issue 58 of Market Watch can be found here.
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