Enforcement investigations and potential breaches of Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) information - October 2020


Reference Case Number: FOI7641

Freedom of Information: Right to know request:

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act. Where possible, a response before the 12 October 2020 would be appreciated. 

1. How many Enforcement investigations have been opened for potential breaches of Article 15 Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) since 1 March 2020

2. Of those, how many concern market manipulation as defined in the following

a. Article 12(1)(a) MAR

b. Article 12(1)(b) MAR

c. Article 12(1)(c) MAR

d. Article 12(1)(d) MAR

3. How many Markets Oversight investigations have been commenced into issuer announcements and/or failure to disclose inside information between 1 March 2020 and 1 September 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019.

4. Since the Market Abuse Regulation came into force, how many enforcement investigations has the FCA opened concerning Article 15 and Article 12(1)(c) MAR (disseminating information which gives false or misleading signals etc) into someone who was not an issuer of the financial instruments in question? If possible please specify the number of investigations according to the following categories:

a. issuer employee / other issuer representative

b. journalist 

c. research provider 

d. social media platform / user

e. other market participant

5. FOIA response FOI7123 indicates that in 2018 the FCA opened 1 spoofing investigation in 2018 and none in 2019. How is spoofing defined for these purposes?

FCA response:

Refer to the supporting document below.

Supporting document

FOI7641 response