The FinancialThe UK financial regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published information regarding market manipulation reports that it received in 2019. These include suspicious transaction and order reports submitted to the regulator that may involve insider trading, market manipulations or other possible wrongdoing.
While the total number of market manipulation reports received by the regulator totalled 812, FX related reports amounted to 76, which is a slight increase from 2018. However, in terms of insider dealing, forex only contributed a small amount, with a total of 7 reports lodged during the year. The total for the year was 444 reports. Therefore, FX contributed only 1.6 per cent to the total.
The suspicious transaction and order reports (STORs) are required by the regulator to be used by market participants to identify and report suspicions of potential market abuse. The regulator noted that some firms have taken steps to protect the markets, including “reviewing the suitability of clients whose trading may otherwise have been subject of a STOR and restricting their access to financial markets where appropriate.”