Companies targeted by FSA put accountants on alert
Accountants for companies under investigation by the FRC advised to comply with City watchdog's insider trading probe
Companies subject to an investigation by the Financial Services Authority
over insider trading have told their accountants to comply with any requests
from the regulator.
The FSA has launched a crackdown on leaking price-sensitive information, the
Daily Telegraph reports, following concerns that confidential data was
being leaked to the press and advisers in the City before the rest of the market
was told.
One deal believed to be on the FSA’s radar is the tie-up between Pearl Group
and Resolution. The battle for Resolution saw a bitter fight between Friends
Provident, Standard Life and Pearl, before Pearl triumphed.
‘Combating market abuse is one of the FSA’s top priorities and we are
committed to working in partnership with the industry to reduce the incidence of
market abuse on the UK’s markets,’ director of markets Sally Dewar was quoted as
saying.
In 2006 the FSA published a report on market abuse and it is working on a
code of conduct for sectors it doesn’t regulate, such as public relations, on
protecting price-sensitive information.
Further reading:
Jim Smart to lead Friends review
Overview: Friends Provident faces battle for closed
funds