Thursday 23 September 2010

UK: the strategic leaking of inside information

In its latest Market Watch newsletter - available here (pdf) - the Financial Services Authority has highlighted its concerns with the strategic leaking of inside information (i.e., the deliberate leaking of inside information sanctioned by an issuer's senior management or its advisors with the intention of gaining a strategic advantage through media positioning). In its newsletter the FSA states (at p. 2):

We are particularly concerned about the suspected practice of core insiders strategically leaking inside information; we have stated we will increase our efforts into the causes of leaks in individual cases. While it is difficult to measure the frequency of these leaks, we believe a significant number of leaks may be strategic ... Despite our focus on how firms could tighten their controls, the frequency of leaks do not appear to have reduced, and we are concerned that senior management at regulated/unregulated firms and issuers may not be doing enough to set a suitable anti-leaking culture".

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