STRICTER RULES TO FIGHT AGAINST INSIDER DEALING AND MARKET MANIPULATION IN HUNGARY

The Market Abuse Directive accepted by the European Parliament in 2014 entered into force on 3 July 2016 in Europe’s markets. Due to the new Directive, stricter rules apply in Hungary to insider dealing and capital investment abuses and the fines to be imposed rise significantly.

According to the new regulations, the amount of profits achieved with the abuse or the amount of loss avoided by the abuse shall be taken into account when calculating the fine. The highest fine applicable to insider dealing and market manipulation in case of a natural person is up to HUF 5 million, while it is up to HUF 15 million in case of a legal person. Administrative authorities will now have broader power for example to investigate commercial transactions outside the stock market.

As a result of the stricter provisions, in case of committing market manipulation or insider deal crimes up to 4 years of imprisonment can be charged, while up to 2 years for unauthorized publication of insider information.