MyComplianceOffice Blog

During 2020, many factors have shaped the regulations and enforcement actions to maintain market integrity and place the interests of clients ahead of firms and individuals. In addition to the challenges faced by compliance and risk departments, the number of people trading worldwide has risen, pressuring regulators and compliance departments to quickly act to monitor conflicts of interest and prevent individuals from taking market advantage.

On September 23rd, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a set of outcomes and recommendations on the Market Abuse Regulation. The report has the objective to review the functionalities of MAR since its implementation in 2016 and draft suggestions to improve the regulation. The report is based on a 2019 consultation and covers buy-back programmes, the delayed disclosure of inside information, the usefulness of insider lists, managers’ transactions, the retention period of personal data among other topics.

The global workforce has been under pressure since March, when the lockdown started in most countries. Since then, the stress and financial pressure caused by COVID-19 and the uncertainty to industries, organizations and employees has increased. Governments and regulators are under pressure to deliver normality while reducing the economic and market impact of the crisis.

The Market Abuse Directive II (MAD II) goes into effect this year. The new regulation will require firms to enhance employee supervision and take closer look at their organizational compliance practices. For those unfamiliar, MyComplianceOffice has compiled five fast facts to serve as an introduction.