Regulatory Context

The European Energy sector has been affected by several financial regulations in order to protect its integrity and transparency.

Among them, the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (Regulation EU No 1227/2011, c.d. REMIT) and the Market Abuse Regulation (Regulation EU No 596/2014, c.d. MAR) are focused on potential manipulative behaviors on wholesale physical and financial commodity markets, respectively.

In particular, MAR states that market participants must adopt an appropriate internal control system.

Specifically, they are required to monitor their market activities in order to detect any suspicious manipulative behavior:

“Any person professionally arranging or executing transactions shall establish and maintain effective arrangements, systems and procedures to detect and report suspicious orders and transactions. Where such a person has a reasonable suspicion that an order or transaction in any financial instrument, whether placed or executed on or outside a trading venue, could constitute insider dealing, market manipulation or attempted insider dealing or market manipulation, the person shall notify the competent authority (..)”

BizPro represents a smart response to the MAR regulatory requirement for market participants and a best practice for REMIT.

Examples of Manipulative Practices set out in the Regulation

False/misleading transactions

Trading, or placing orders to trade, which gives, or is likely to give, false or misleading signals as to the supply of, demand for, or price of products traded.

Price positioning

Trading, or placing orders to trade, which secures or attempts to secure, by a person, the price of one or several products at an artificial level, unless the person who entered into the transaction or issued the order to trade establishes that his reason for doing so are legitimate.

Transactions involving fictitious devices/deception

Trading, or placing orders to trade, which employs fictitious devices or any other form of deception or contrivance.

Dissemination of false and misleading information

Giving out information that conveys a false or misleading impression about a product where the person doing those knows or ought to have known the information to be false or misleading.

Tipping

When an insider improperly discloses inside information to another person, unless such disclosure is made in the exercise of their profession or duties.

Insider dealing

When a person possess inside information and uses that information by acquiring or disposing of, for its own account, directly or indirectly, products which that information relates to.

Tuyautage

When an insider is recommending or inducing, on the basis of inside information, another person to acquire or dispose of products to which that information relates.