FSA recruits to stamp out market abuse

by Gill Montia

Story link: FSA recruits to stamp out market abuse

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is proposing to take on an additional 460 staff to help clean up the UK’s financial services sector.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the regulator’s soon-to-be outgoing chief executive, Hector Sants, described market abuse in the UK as at an “unacceptably high level”.

Mr Sants then qualified his remark by saying that it was no worse in the UK than in other major financial centres, but added that he believed market participants shared his view.

Last week, Malcolm Calvert, a former equities marketmaker at stock broker, Cazenove, was found guilty on five counts of insider dealing at Southwark Crown Court, and received a 21 month custodial sentence.

The case was the third successful prosecution for insider dealing brought by the FSA and apparently evidence of the regulator’s “ongoing drive to tackle market abuse and promote efficient, orderly and fair markets”.