FCA reminds firms of market abuse investigation protocol

In its latest edition of Market Watch, FCA focuses on how market participants should act when they receive information requests from FCA when it is investigating possible market abuse.  It stresses that:

• if firms handle information requirements poorly, this can hinder an investigation. The requests always state the need to keep them strictly confidential, and that they should not be discussed outside the Compliance team without FCA’s agreement; and
• material that could be subject to legal professional privilege should not be included in STORs or market observations, or the privilege may be lost.

It also gives an update on transaction reporting, and some recent failings it has noticed.