The latest edition of Market Watch focusses on web-based trading platforms and sets out the FCA’s concerns about gaps in users’ surveillance of web-based platform activity. Highlights include:
- Market abuse surveillance – FCA is concerned that users of web-based platforms may not be able to monitor all their orders to detect potential market abuse.
- Data challenges – there are challenges in getting useable data in a format suitable for surveillance.
- Compliance awareness – some compliance and surveillance teams are unaware of the platforms used by their front office staff or lack knowledge of the quantity of business undertaken on them.
- Onboarding governance – when onboarding new platforms, firms should consider how they will meet their market abuse surveillance and record keeping obligations.
- Firm rationales for failings – FCA continues to observe firms using questionable rationales to justify their potential failure to meet their obligations under UK MAR. The FCA stresses that it will not accept failure to comply with UK MAR because other firms are in a similar position.
- Operators of web-based platforms – operators of trading venues are reminded of their obligations to undertake effective monitoring to prevent, identify and report potential market abuse.