The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) claims to have shortened the time taken to investigate suspicious conduct after assuming the market supervision role previously undertaken by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
ASIC assumed responsibility for market supervision and real-time surveillance of the ASX in August and this week released a supervision report for the period from the beginning of August until the 31 December last year.
And according to that report, one of the key benefits of ASIC taking responsibility for market surveillance has been a reduction in the time taken to commence an investigation into suspicious market conduct.
It said that during the reporting period there had been 14 investigations started within 60 days of matters being investigated and nine within 30 days.
It said insider trading detection, investigation and prosecution remained the key priority for ASIC.
“In addition to our focus on insider trading and market manipulation, we have been active in identifying problematic algorithms and working with market participants and their clients to reduce the risk of algorithms having a negative impact on market integrity,” the regulator said.
It said that, if warranted, it would take enforcement action against a participant whose system interfered with market integrity.
