Market Abuse Regulation – changes to UK MAR on PDMR dealings and insider lists

The deadline for disclosing dealings by persons discharging managerial responsibilities (PDMRs) and the requirements in relation to insider lists in the UK Market Abuse Regulation (UK MAR) will be amended by the Financial Services Act 2021.

The Financial Services Act amends certain aspects of the legislative and regulatory framework for financial services following Brexit (see our blog post here).

Under the Act:

• PDMR dealings – The deadline in UK MAR for the disclosure of PDMR dealings will be extended, to bring it in line with an amendment made to EU MAR with effect from 1 January 2021. An issuer will have two working days to disclose the dealing to the market from the date of notification by the PDMR (rather than the current position where both the notification by the PDMR to the issuer and the disclosure by the issuer to the market have to be made within three days of the dealing). The notification to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must still be made within three working days of the dealing;
• Insider lists – UK MAR will be amended to clarify that both issuers and any person acting on their behalf or on their account are required to maintain an insider list when in possession of inside information; and
• Insider dealing and market manipulation – The maximum sentence for the insider dealing and market manipulation offences in the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and Financial Services Act 2012 will be increased from seven to ten years.

The amendments to UK MAR will come into force on 29 June 2021. The increased sentences for insider dealing and market manipulation will only come into force when further regulations are made by the Treasury.