Market Abuse: Themes, Hot Topics and Trends in Financial Services

Course outline and objectives

Market abuse refers to the unlawful behaviour of one or more participants in the financial markets that harms the integrity of the markets producing an unfair advantage to a small number of participants that caused harm and disadvantage to other investors. There are two broad categories of market abuse: market manipulation and insider dealing. There are both criminal and civil laws prohibiting market abuse.

While market abuse is as old as the financial markets, more recently, the EU Market Abuse (MAR) legislation of 2016 was onshored into UK legislation in December 2020 and incorporated into UK law, bringing more clarity to the industry.

UK MAR makes insider dealing, unlawful disclosure, market manipulation and attempted manipulation civil offences. It also gives the FCA powers and responsibilities for preventing and detecting market abuse.

For breaches of UK MAR, the FCA has the power to impose unlimited fines, order injunctions or prohibit regulated firms or approved persons. It also the power to investigate and bring criminal cases to court. Criminal sanctions for insider dealing and market manipulation can incur custodial sentences of up to 10 years and unlimited fines.

The objective of the course is to provide an overview of the different types of market abuse, how they might occur and the risk to firms. We will look at the recent trends in market abuse and provide case examples.

We will discuss the various requirements under MAR including prevention, detection and reporting regulations in light of the FCA's new business plan 2024/2025 and the new Consumer Duty regulations.

By the end of this course you will have a comprehensive understanding of the types of market abuse, the significance of this on a firm's risk profile, the FCA regulations and what firms should do to protect themselves.

Attending this focused half-day course will help you:

• Define and distinguish between the different types of market abuse and the terminology used
• Stay up to date with the FCA's focus and what they currently expect of firms
• Describe the EU and UK MAR requirements
• Deepen your understanding of the role of risk assessments in relation to market abuse

Who will benefit?

The fair running of the financial markets is the cornerstone to our financial stability. The integrity with which financial services are run becomes increasingly important as more non-professional investors enter the various markets. Firms are at the forefront and have the ability to ensure integrity of the financial markets remains intact. It is important to understand how market manipulation works in practice in order to be able to detect and prevent it, and thereby safeguard your firm from either being the target of foul play or the subject of an FCA investigation.

It is particularly relevant for Chief Operating Officers, Senior Management, Compliance Officers, Risk Managers, Internal Auditors, Sales, Dealers and Traders and Wealth and Investment Managers.

Training Approach

This course will be delivered via a real time slide sharing and live audio-visual platform, accessible by desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Delegate numbers will be limited to ensure a high-quality learning environment.