This book provides a concise comparison of the regulation and enforcement of the anti-market abuse laws (insider trading and market manipulation) in South Africa, the United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK). Bringing together a number of previously published articles, the book provides a novel discussion of the challenges associated with the enforcement of market abuse laws in both developing countries such as South Africa and developed ones such as the USA and the UK. This is primarily done to examine and expose the current strengths and weaknesses of market abuse laws in relation to certain aspects of the corporate, securities and financial markets environments in South Africa, the USA and the UK. Accordingly, chapters two to five of the book unpack the regulation and enforcement of market abuse laws in South Africa and the USA in a comparative perspective. Thereafter, chapters six to eight of the book discuss the regulation and enforcement of market abuse laws (Financial Markets Act 19 of 2012) and other related statutes in South Africa and the UK. The book proposes some measures that could be utilised to enhance the enforcement of anti-market laws in South Africa, USA and the UK. New market abuse-related challenges that occurred during the global financial crisis are also briefly discussed. The book further provides a relatively adequate overview of the comparative analysis of the regulation of market abuse in South Africa versus two key developed and respected jurisdictions, namely, the USA and the UK. Accordingly, it is hoped that the book can aid regulatory authorities, financial market participants, academics, students and other interested readers to understand market abuse offences and possible measures that could be employed to combat such offences.

Market Abuse Regulation is a wide-ranging and insightful analysis of the market abuse regime and the applications of the regulations in the UK and European Union. It provides detailed discussion of the implementation and interpretation of the regulation, the conduct of investigations, the defences and appeals available against a finding of market abuse, and overlapping United States regulation. The new edition explains and evaluates the changes introduced by the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, the Market Abuse Directive, the Market Abuse Regulation, and the implementation of the Regulation on Wholesale Market Integrity and Transparency, which have resulted in dramatic expansion of the coverage of EU market abuse regulation. It addresses the regulation of additional financial instruments, the expansion to include new markets and trading facilities, and changes to the coverage of commodity derivatives and physical commodities. It discusses the dramatic changes to the format of regulation as a result of the restructuring of UK regulators; as well as the addition of new EU supervisory bodies with revised powers over national regulation within the EU. Beyond the EU, it discusses international protocols and treaties which have also added to the regulatory structure.

This book analyses the European market abuse regime contained in the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and related directives and regulations. Written by leading scholars in the field of capital market law from a number of European jurisdictions, the book is divided into two main parts. The first consists of chapters considering relevant issues by topic; whilst the second provides the first article-by-article commentary on the Regulation, with a detailed and technical analysis of its terms. In the first part guidance is arranged by topic and includes aspects not directly addressed by MAR such as enforcement, and the impact of US securities regulation. As well as considering the sources of market abuse regulation in general, this first part also examines its theoretical and economic framework in order to provide better understanding of the Regulation itself.

The European Union regime for fighting market manipulation and insider trading – commonly referred to as market abuse – was significantly reshuffled in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007/2008 and new legal instruments to fight market abuse were eventually adopted in 2014. In this monograph the authors identify the association between the financial crisis and market abuse, critically consider the legislative, policy and enforcement responses in the European Union, and contrast them with the approaches adopted by the United States of America and the United Kingdom respectively. The aftermath of the financial crisis, ongoing security concerns and increased legislation and policy responses to the fight against irregularities and market failures demonstrate that we need to understand, in context, the regulatory responses taken in this area. Specifically, the book investigates how the regulatory responses have changed over time since the start of the financial crisis. Market Manipulation and Insider Trading places the fight against market abuse in the broader framework of the fight against white collar crime and also considers some associated questions in order to better understand the contemporary market abuse regime.

The Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) entered into force in 2016 within the European Union, which introduced a fully harmonized ban on market manipulation. Even though the regulation is quite detailed, the terms used to define market manipulation are relatively vague and open-ended. In What Is market manipulation? Dr. Andri Fannar Bergþórsson offers unique insight to and an interpretation of the concept of market manipulation, which includes an analysis of case law from the Nordic countries. The aim of the book is to clarify the concept as described in MAR and to provide readers some guidelines to distinguish between lawful behaviour and market manipulation (the unlawful behaviour). Bergþórsson convincingly argues that misinformation is an essential element of all forms of market manipulation.

Economic theory indicates that financial markets play a prominent role to the efficient allocation of resources in the modern world. Financial markets can fulfil this role if they enjoy the confidence of investors and are free of abuse. The financial frauds associated with the collapse of Enron and the major crises in world leading corporations such as WorldCom, Adelphia, Tyco, and the 'Wall Street financial scandals' have shown that fraud, manipulation, and insider dealing retain a catastrophic presence in modern financial markets. Proper deterrence of market abuse is necessary not only for the effective operation of modern financial markets, but also for regaining investor confidence. This book analyses the mechanics and regulation of two of the most harmful market practices in the modern financial world: insider dealing and market manipulation, which together comprise the offence of market abuse. Avgouleas examines the UK and EC regimes from an interdisciplinary perspective, also making extensive and critical use of US case law. He emphasizes the economic analysis of anti-fraud manipulation regulations and their effects upon market welfare and explores the possible deterrent benefits of civil law remedies.

Over the decade or so since the global financial crisis rocked EU financial markets and led to wide-ranging reforms, EU securities and financial markets regulation has continued to evolve. The legislative framework has been refined and administrative rulemaking has expanded. Alongside, the Capital Markets Union agenda has developed, the UK has left the EU, and ESMA has emerged as a decisive influence on EU financial markets governance. All these developments, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic, have shaped the regulatory landscape and how supervision is organized. EU Securities and Financial Markets Regulation provides a comprehensive, critical, and contextual account of the intricate rulebook that governs EU financial markets and its supporting institutional arrangements. It is framed by an assessment of how the regime has evolved over the decade or so since the global financial crisis and considers, among other matters, the post-crisis reforms to key legislative measures, the massive expansion of administrative rulemaking and of soft law, the Capital Markets Union agenda, the development of supervisory convergence as the means for organizing pan-EU supervision, and ESMA's role in EU financial markets governance. Its coverage extends from capital-raising and the Prospectus Regulation to financial market intermediation and the MiFID II/MiFIR and IFD/IFR regimes, to the new regulatory regimes adopted since the global financial crisis (including for benchmarks and their administrators), to retail market regulation and the PRIIPs Regulation, and on to the EU's third country regime and the implications of the UK's departure from the EU. This is the fourth edition of the highly successful and authoritative monograph first published as EC Securities Regulation. Heavily revised from the third edition to reflect developments since the global financial crisis, it adopts the in-depth contextual and analytical approach of earlier editions and so considers the market, political, institutional, and international context of the regulatory and supervisory regime.