ASIC cracks down on deal leaks with new insider trading team
The regulator has drawn a line in the sand as more corporate activity leaks to the market and media.
Amid a noted deterioration in market integrity last year, ASIC has ramped up investigations on a number of high-profile and increasingly public deal leaks.
Capital Brief has confirmed that the regulator has reviewed around a dozen transactions leaked outside of deal rooms since November and has set up a “specialist insider trading team” to investigate them.
“Where firms see a leak in a transaction, they should expect us to get in contact to get at the details of how they've protected the confidential information that they hold,” senior executive leader of market conduct Andrew Templer said.
He declined to comment on specific incidents, but this year has seen several high-profile examples, including a wall crossing of a Novonix capital raising that sank the share price but never eventuated.
