Capital Markets Updates: Market Abuse and Investor Protection

MiFID II and PRIIPs include numerous provision on investor protection especially as far as retail investors are concerned. Emphasis is given mainly to the information to be provided to the client, to transparency requirements, to the efficient determination of the target market and the distribution of the investment products accordingly, to the suitability and appropriateness assessment of clients and to the best execution when executing client orders. For the purpose of product governance requirements, investment firms that create, develop, issue and/or design financial instruments, including when advising corporate issuers on the launch of new financial instruments, should be considered as manufacturers while investment firms that offer or sell financial instrument and services to clients should be considered distributors.

To prevent divergence, it is necessary to establish uniform rules on transparency at Union level which will apply to all participants in the PRIIPs market and thereby enhance investor protection. A regulation is necessary to ensure that a common standard for key information documents is established in a uniform fashion so as to be able to harmonise the format and the content of those documents. The directly applicable rules of a regulation should ensure that all those advising on, or selling, PRIIPs are subject to uniform requirements in relation to the provision of the key information document to retail investors.

The Market Abuse Regime seeks to increase market integrity and investor protection, while ensuring a single rulebook and level playing field across the European Union. The Market Abuse Regime strengthened the existing European Union market abuse framework by extending its scope to new markets, new platforms and new behaviours. The legislation contained prohibitions for insider dealing and market manipulation, provisions to prevent and detect these.

The objective of this seminar is:

• to present the investor protection rules according to MiFID II and PRIIPs, the relevant level 2 measures and the relevant guidelines f ESMA,
• to present the new requirements on product governance,
• to present the content of the KID according to PRIIPs,
• to provide guidance concerning compliance with the new requirements
• Summarise the importance of Market Abuse reforms, the key legislative changes and how they inter-relate with the wider regulatory agenda.
• Identify the key regulatory changes & challenges across MAR including increased monitoring and surveillance of trading venues and financial instruments.
• Explore key issues related to changes introduced by the Market Abuse Regime including Market Soundings, Issuer Disclosure of Information, Director’s transactions and enhanced regulatory powers.
• Develop an awareness of how the Regulation interacts across other European Regulations including MiFID II.

Seminar content

• Categorisation of clients
• Information to be provided to clients
• Best execution
• Manufacturing and distributing financial instruments
• Product monitoring and intervention
• Key Information Document
• Enforcement
•  Market Abuse Overview & Update
• Regulatory Changes – Past, Present & Future
•  Current Challenges for Monitoring & Surveillance

Who should attend

This workshop will be of benefit to anyone who is likely to be working within the market abuse requirements and wishes to develop a greater understanding of the regime, including senior management, oversight financial crime, audit, legal, compliance, risk and service providers. Any person who provides investment services, as well as Legal Advisors and Compliance Officers.