On June 12, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated its webpage on how firms and trading venues should report suspected market abuse (the Webpage).

Under the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), all FCA-regulated firms and individuals professionally arranging or executing transactions in certain financial instruments, and operators of a trading venue, must report suspicious transactions, orders, and ‘attempted market abuse’ (known as suspicious transaction and order reports (STORs)) to the FCA without delay. A suspicious transaction or order is one where there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect it might be market abuse, such as insider dealing or market manipulation. Firms and trading venues should make sure that staff, especially those responsible for managing financial crime risks, are given the appropriate training to identify suspicious transactions and orders.

The updated Webpage includes a new section on submitting ‘market observations.’ The FCA requests that firms and trading venues submit a market observation to notify it of activity they have observed in the market that is not required to be reported as a STOR. For example, where the firm or trading venue is not involved in the activity it therefore does not have complete information.

Whether a STOR or a market observation, firms should submit their notification to the FCA by logging in to the FCA’s online filing portal called FCA Connect, and complete the market observation form or the STOR form under the ‘Notifications’ tab.

The Webpage is available here.