On 3 October 2013 the «Commission des Sanctions de l'AMF», the French Financial Markets Regulator, held a very interesting comparative law conference on Market Abuse comparing the legal systems of the UK , the USA and France. Guillaume Prache, the managing director of EuroFinUse, took the floor to point out the major divergence between the three countries as to the rules and practices on criminal repression of large scale market abuses.
It so happens that a comparison of jail sentences between the 3 countries serve as a good illustration of the divergences with :
- Market abuses being punishable by to up to 20 years of jail per occurrence in the USA;
- Maximum 7 years of jail per occurrence in the UK;
- And only a maximum of 2 years in France, where only 2 jail sentences have ever been delivered.
Interesting information for the would-be insider traders, market manipulators and the like.
Please read the «Commission des Sanctions de l'AMF» press release here.