Market abuse

On 1st December 2001, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (‘FSMA’) came into force. One of its most controversial sections is Part VIII which gives the Financial Services Authority (‘FSA’) the power to impose civil penalties for market abuse. Despite the many doubts raised about these provisions and their as yet untested nature, the European Commission has proposed a European Directive on Market Abuse1, to extend the concept of ‘administrative sanctions’ for market abuse across the whole European Economic Area (‘EEA’). This paper looks at the issues currently raised by the UK legislation and any further problems the European legislation may bring