Renewed focus on market abuse controls

A fit-for-purpose market abuse risk assessment is crucial in order to avoid problems further down the line, while a shortage of compliance expertise is another consistently-cited issue. Monica Rodriguez examines the latest expectations expressed by the regulator.

Monica Rodriguez is principal consultant at Bovill, whose specialists conduct health checks on firms' market abuse prevention frameworks. Bovill can also help develop and assess the market abuse risk assessment, design policies, procedures and controls to mitigate those risks, as well as assist to calibrate surveillance systems and provide staff training on their key obligations. A market abuse surveillance 'managed service' in partnership with KRM22 is available to address the needs of smaller firms.

In recent years the Financial Conduct Authority has been boosting its scrutiny of firms' market abuse controls and we have seen the pressure this has been putting on compliance teams. As enforcement activity rises it is increasingly important that firms get this right, but if they take a sensible approach market abuse risk should be manageable.