On 17 December 2018, the FCA published Market Watch 58.

In this issue of Market Watch the FCA reports on its review of industry implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). It also considers ‘manufactured credit events’ in the credit default swap market. Among other things the FCA states that complying with MAR is more than adhering to a set of prescriptive requirements. Julia Hoggett, FCA Director of Market Oversight, described compliance as ‘a state of mind’ in a November 2017 speech. The FCA encourages market participants to familiarise themselves with the key messages in this speech (our blog on the speech is here).

The FCA reports that the most effective compliance it saw during its review was where participants could demonstrate that their risk assessments were calibrated to the markets and asset classes they operate in. As highlighted in Market Watch 56, the FCA states that participants should be able to demonstrate that their approach is responsive to changes to their business, market practice and the regulatory environment. This may include developments in automated trading, encryption technologies, artificial intelligence and social media.