MAR plus MAD = madness
Interpretation is all when it comes to regulation, and any assumption that the revised version of the Market Abuse Directive together with the Market Abuse Regulation would mean the death knell for one on one fund manager/company meetings would be a serious error. Taken at its most draconian, the wording of this EU clampdown on insider trading could hit straightforward research and threaten fact finding amongst fund managers and stockbrokers.
Lobbying is taking place to tighten up and change the meaning of the wording relating to company meetings. It’s still at an early stage, but action is urgent as it will take a substantial shift from the Commission’s present position to allow the current practice of analysts and fund managers having private meetings with management of companies to continue post the vote on July 9th, 2012.
The crucial wording in the 2003 version of MAD that has been dropped from the proposed draft directive said that market participants’ own plans and strategies for trading should not be considered as trading information. In addition the definition of Insider information has been expanded in the new draft.
March 26 is the expected date for a revised version to be circulated, at which point either the mad March hare may be pulled out of the hat, or the issue will have been resolved…