Hearing on Market Abuse Directive in EP - Contributions of Participants
16 October 2001
-Attention in this hearing focused on the exact definition of 'insider trading' and whether or not it could best be tackled through administrative or legal procedures. Indeed, one expert argued that the events of September 11th and the terrorist attacks in the USA had implications for the proposal in the sense that the legislation should be extended to cover corporate outsiders with access to privileged information that could be exploited to abuse the market. The consensus was that both administrative and legal sanctions would need to be applied depending on the severity of the case. And as one speaker pointed out, obtaining proof of insider dealing was often difficult.
Furthermore, anonymity as reflected in offshore and nominee accounts could also hamper investigations. Although there was support for the proposal to standardise procedures through the establishment of a uniform set of investigatory powers for the regulators, one speaker was adamant that there was a vital need to improve cooperation between various national authorities to deal with cross-border cases.
The experts were: Dr. Stavros B. THOMADAKIS, Chairman, Capital Markets Commission of Greece,
Claude DUCOULOUX-FAVARD, University Lecturer, Paris, and
Jean-Louis DUPLAT , former Chairman of the Commission Bancaire et Financière, Belgium.
© European Parliament
