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Failing to adequately manage Material Non-Public Information (MNPI) remains a high-risk area for compliance, as evidenced by recent actions in the United States, the United Kingdom and across the globe for issues including insufficient insider trading compliance policies, market abuse and failure to effectively manage insider information.
To avoid hefty fines and actions, firms must have comprehensive and actionable policies and procedures around the management of MNPI and insider lists to minimize risk. Recent enforcement actions clearly demonstrate that insider trading and misuse of MNPI and insider information continue to be trouble spots for compliance teams—and there's no indication that the regulatory scrutiny will let up. It's both a regulatory expectation and a business imperative that firms have the latest compliance technology in place to manage employee personal trading compliance and the potential misuse of insider information.
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Just take a look back at the last few years. The enforcement keeps coming and the penalties are significant.
The days of writing off regulatory fines as a cost of doing business are long over. Keeping a handle on employee access to MNPI and proactively identifying areas of potential risk and concern is critical to protect the firm’s brand and reputation—and the bottom line. Below are some examples of recent fines for trading violations and misuse of insider information in financial services firms across the globe.
In May of 2026,the SEC charged 21 individuals in connection with an alleged decade-long insider trading scheme involving material nonpublic information misappropriated from multiple global law firms and tied to more than a dozen corporate transactions. Regulators alleged the scheme generated millions in illicit profits through coordinated tipping networks and trading activity spanning several years.
In January of 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission secured a conviction resulting in a six-year imprisonment sentence for a former investment manager who engaged in insider trading and procuring others to trade in shares of an asset management company. This case was the first outcome for ASIC's new criminal investigation taskforce formed to boost resources and expertise for investigating insider trading cases.
In January of 2026, the FCA fined an oil rig consultant £309,843 for using inside information to make a profit of £128,765. The consultant made multiple trades across different accounts and brokers while based outside the UK, including selling shares ahead of announcements to avoid losses.In November of 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore imposed a civil penalty of S$137,000 on an individual for insider trading in shares of a Singapore Exchange-listed energy compan
Material Non-Public Information or MNPI is defined as information that is not generally disseminated to the public or available to investors, which a reasonable investor would likely consider important in making an investment decision such as to buy, sell, or hold securities. It can include strategic plans, significant capital investment plans, negotiations concerning acquisitions or dispositions, new or canceled contracts, financial results and more. This information is considered non-public if it has yet to be distributed to the public via a press release, company announcement, etc.
Here’s an example of how MNPI could be used for insider dealing and undue gain. A CEO resigned from their position in March, and the company made an announcement on the same day, thereby making the information public. However, a month prior, during a company meeting with key stakeholders, the management discussed the CEO’s impending resignation. These key stakeholders knew that the CEO would resign a month before the public did. If any of these stakeholders traded, sold, or bought shares using this information as a market advantage, such an act would constitute illegal trading.
Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD) was implemented by the SEC in October 2000 to prevent selective disclosure of material non-public information. Selective disclosure occurs when material nonpublic information is sent to selected contacts, for example, analysts or institutional investors, before being made available to the general public. The SEC notes that if MNPI is selectively disclosed accidentally, the organization must promptly make the disclosed information available to the general public.
As defined by the SEC, "insider trading" generally refers to buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust and confidence, while in possession of material non-public information about the security.
Signed into law on November 19, 1988, the Insider Trading and Securities Fraud Enforcement Act of 1988 (ITSFEA) was enacted to curb the misuse of non-public information for personal gain in the securities market and strengthen insider trading laws in the US.
ITSFEA updated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, increasing the SEC's authority to penalize individuals and firms involved in insider trading. The Act allowed the SEC to impose fines up to three times the profit gained or loss avoided through insider trading, significantly increasing the financial consequences for violations. ITSFEA also introduced measures to hold firm management accountable if they knowingly or recklessly failed to prevent insider trading within their organizations. Finally, ITSFEA reinforced the importance of establishing and enforcing solid policies and procedures to prevent insider trading.
Here’s an example of activity that would be considered insider trading. A high-level employee receives information that their company will either merge with another firm or be sold. Understanding the market impact of this information, which has not yet been shared with the public, he consequently buys or sells the company’s shares in his father’s account in order to gain a profit.
The SEC has served notice that firms must continue to make monitoring for insider trading a priority. With many employees working remotely, “a greater number of people may have access to material nonpublic information than in less challenging times.”
In the Risk Alert Observations from Examinations of Investment Advisers Managing Private Funds the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) of the SEC noted policies and procedures relating to MNPI as a general deficiency commonly seen during examinations of registered investment advisers that manage private equity funds or hedge funds.
OCIE staff identified Section 204A deficiencies in firms’ MNPI policies, including gaps around employee interactions with external parties, access to office spaces and systems, and periodic access to information about public issuers.
FCA activity including this Decision Notice also reflect regulator focus on market abuse and the management of MNPI. To be in compliance with Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), firms must have controls in place to manage conduct risk and reduce the risk of market abuse.
“To achieve effective compliance, firms need to understand the Personal Account Dealing risks posed by their business models, design clear policies and processes around those risks and develop a culture where adherence to their rules is the norm. When breaches of PAD policies do occur, firms need to investigate them and, where appropriate, take disciplinary action.
Failing to adequately assess the conduct risks that PAD may pose, or to have adequate systems and controls in place or to train staff to observe appropriate standards of market conduct may leave a firm or its staff exposed to raised risks of regulatory action.”
Insider dealing is a perennial concern for regulators worldwide. Agencies like the SEC, the FCA, BaFin and the AMF are using the latest technology to detect insider trading, misuse of insider information and market abuse. Regulators increasingly expect as well that firms will have the latest technology in place in order to demonstrate that they are taking a comprehensive and proactive approach to managing access to MNPI and employee personal account dealing compliance.
MyComplianceOffice can help your firm manage regulatory guidelines around the sharing of MNPI among corporate insiders in advance of trading and investment deals. Our software can help you identify and mitigate potential conflicts of interest from the activities of employees, third parties and the company and automate your MNPI and Insider Trading policies & procedures and embed them within your business.
Our Insider List Management solution enables users to create insider lists, complete with individuals and roles/rights assignments, timeframes when individuals can access inside information as well as a cross-referenceable hierarchical database of securities listings and company information on tens of thousands of entities. The automated solution supports standardized data management formats for sharing insider lists in accordance with regulatory guidelines.
We can help! MCO's Personal Trade Manager and Insider and MNPI solutions enable firms to reduce the risk of employee personal account dealing and manage insider information across the organization. Contact us today to chat with our global team of experts and see the solutions in action!
Let us know if you’d like to learn more.
Originally published on July 22, 2020, and updated on May 8, 2026, this article was written by Keith Pyke. Keith Pyke is Director of Solutions at MCO.
