State of the markets

Financial markets in the United Kingdom are becoming cleaner, believes the regulator, as it boosts enforcement activity and conducts more sophisticated analysis of expanding data sets. However, defeating market abuse is an unending game of ‘cat and mouse’. David Rundle and Anna Gaudoin analyse a speech by Mark Steward.

David Rundle is counsel and Anna Gaudoin an associate in law firm WilmerHale’s UK white collar defence and investigations practice. Contact them on david.rundle@wilmerhale.com and anna.gaudoin@wilmerhale.com.

On 6 February 2020, Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority, spoke at the 19 Annual Institute on Securities Regulation in Europe. [1] His speech, summarising the state of market integrity, sets out the FCA’s strategic approach to cleaning up the markets and questions whether the regulator’s role in surveilling market activity and taking enforcement action has had a deterrent effect.