In the press release, the FCA states that it has instituted criminal proceedings against two individuals (one of whom is a former compliance officer.)

Of course compliance officers in the dealing rooms often get weekly lists of protected disclosures which is the most highly sensitive of all documents!

Both individuals have been charged with five counts of insider dealing between June 2013 and June 2014.  Insider dealing is a criminal offence punishable, on conviction, by a fine or up to seven years' imprisonment, or both. 

But as reported previously, one in seven trades are still preceded by suspicious share price movements. It is also a crime that has some famous cases, whereby, for instance, printing firms binding the prospectus documents have become insiders and are barred from trading. It is all too easy for an IFA to become an insider, without being aware of it. If you run a business employing IFAs you need to be very clear to train your staff on this sort of thing.

And if you are a sole practitioner, acting on verbal share tips is a highly dangerous activity.