On 13 December 2022, the FCA published Market Watch 71.

In Market Watch 71, the FCA shares their observations about changes in advisory firms’ insider lists since the publication of Market Watch 60. The FCA also reminds firms of the requirement within UK Market Abuse Regulation (UK MAR) to include personal information in insider lists, and reiterate the importance of firms maintaining accurate insider lists and strictly limiting access to inside information to employees who require access to perform their role in order to prevent market abuse.

Furthermore, the FCA covers:

  • Steps taken by firms to reduce the number of permanent insiders. Since Market Watch 60, the FCA has seen considerable reductions in the numbers of permanent insiders at several advisory firms, as well as enhanced monitoring of access to inside information.
  • Article 18 of UK MAR and personal information. Recently, the FCA has received insider lists in response to regulatory requests, which do not contain personal information, other than names. The FCA have noticed the absence of telephone numbers, dates of birth and national identification numbers. The FCA requires this information to eliminate people for their enquiries by cross-referencing the information with MiFIR transaction reports, MAR suspicious transaction and order reports and other information sources.