MyComplianceOffice Blog

The preservation of healthy financial markets relies on having safe, properly regulated environments where investors can confidently trade securities. Unfortunately, high-profile insider trading cases have grabbed the spotlight in recent years.

As financial firms across Singapore continue their strong growth, managing compliance effectively brings increased challenges.

Cases of insider trading and securities compliance failures have made headlines in recent years. And for a good reason. Financial markets rely heavily on high liquidity, making it easy to trade securities without affecting price. However, when markets are manipulated, liquidity is affected, transaction costs can increase, and investor returns are reduced.

On 11 January 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a "Dear CEO" letter to wholesale broker firms, highlighting key risks and drivers along with their supervisory focus for the next two years. The letter places particular emphasis on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), market abuse, personal account dealing-and the need for firms to have robust systems and controls in place to effectively manage and evidence these risks. 

With the end-February 2023 deadline for next steps looming, time is of the essence for senior executives and board members to review the current state of compliance in these areas and develop an action plan to fill in the gaps. 

The 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program provides firms with insight into findings from recent oversight activities of FINRA’s Member Supervision, Market Regulation and Enforcement programs. The report outlines regulatory obligations, findings from recent oversight activities, effective practices and additional resources.