Lawyers on insider trading

July 31, 2008

insider.jpgNews of the arrests of workers at the Swiss bank UBS and JPMorgan Cazenove, one of the oldest names in the City of London, for alleged insider dealing on Tuesday may have sent a chill through the UK capital’s trading rooms, but lawyers are not convinced that the FSA’s sudden flexing of muscle will make much difference.

As the FT reports here, ” ‘Moving away from the civil offence of market abuse to criminal prosecution is a natural but significant step for the FSA,’ said Richard Burger, a solicitor with Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, the City law firm, and a former FSA enforcement lawyer. ‘The infrequency of prosecutions illustrates just how difficult it is to secure convictions for insider dealing.’ ”

Elsewhere, the FT quotes Carlos Conceicao, a partner at Clifford Chance: “There has been precious little research done on where these insider dealers are. If you believe a lot of the serious harm is being done by people who know the system and play the system, I suppose there is a question mark over how effective the current enforcement action will be.”

And then there is Elizabeth Robertson of Addleshaw Goddard, who, says the FT, believes that “now it had finally begun flexing its criminal muscle, the regulator appeared to be targeting only individuals, despite the fact that some of its own research suggested large-scale insider dealing may be taking place.”

All of which makes for a rather bleak diagnosis of the FSA’s efforts.

 

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Not so right said Fred

February 2, 2012
fred hat

So Farewell, then, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Now you are just Fred.

Not Right Said Fred, but plain Fred.

The Forfeiture Committee did for you.

No one had heard of it before,

But Dave said it had to act, and it did.

Trouble is that no one knows what to think.

Is it ‘Alas, poor Fred‘,

Or ‘Hurray! Sir Fred is dead!’?

We don’t know.

Do you?

By A. Mob, aged 1,378 and a half.

London Goes AWOL

January 31, 2012
CNN

STOP PRESS:

Fed up with being stuck on the Thames in south-east England, London yesterday decided to move. In a dramatic gesture which augurs ill for the Olympics, the city upped sticks and relocated to East Anglia.

Lawyers were not consulted about the move, and the city’s precise motivation remains unclear. However, financiers fear that London’s decision is a sign that it wishes to downsize. Moreover, a source from London said: “We no longer want to be Britain’s seat of power. If the Scots can deregulate, why can’t we? East Anglia is a nice place where nothing happens. It’s time for a quiet life. Please respect our right to privacy.”

Elsewhere, Birmingham did not do anything, but Manchester was seen to be packing its bags. “There’s an opportunity for us,” said Manchester. “We can become London.”

East Anglia said: “We don’t mind. It’ll be refreshing to be associated with something other than fens and flatness.”

A cartologist at CNN, which broke the extraordinary news, was later fired.

An excellent ad if ever there was one

January 25, 2012
legovader

We seem to be visually led this week but sometimes words proliferate far too much and letting an image do the talking is no bad thing. That’s another way of saying that ACCESS Agency’s work with Lego is absolutely top drawer.