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.

2020 was a different year, but some things never change. MCO once again hosted several webinars to update compliance and risk professionals on the latest regulations, enforcements and industry best practices. Here are some of the highlights of what we learned from our expert speakers in 2020.

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.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, the FCA released a statement, where the regulator has shown its concerns regarding companies’ capacity to fight against market abuse considering the context of new working conditions. Earlier, the FCA’s Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, Mark Steward gave a speech on market integrity and how the regulator has been approaching and investigating market abuse cases.

The FCA has stated that a primary focus in 2020 is to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the markets and protect consumers. However, firms should not think that means that the regulator will adopt a light approach to current investigations and regulatory enforcement.