Irish funds whose shares are listed on Euronext Dublin, or other EU regulated market, are subject to the market abuse regime.
On 21 July 2019, the Central Bank (Investment Market Conduct) Rules (S.I. No. 366 of 2019) (the Rules) came into force. The Rules (among other things) repeal and codify the market abuse rules previously issued by the Central Bank. The rules do not materially diverge from the market abuse rules they replace. As we have seen with other Central Bank regulations, this codification allows the Central Bank use its enforcement powers to address breaches.
The Central Bank also published Guidance on Market Abuse Regulatory Framework which sets out some regulatory guidance on matters contained in the rules. This should be read with the source materials detailed in the guidance. Readers will recall the ESMA Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Q&As which were updated with non-exhaustive examples where inside information might arise for listed collective investment undertakings (CIUs), discussed in this article.
ESMA issued a consultation paper on 3 October 2019 on the provisions of MAR as requested by the European Commission. The consultation paper includes proposals on a wide range of MAR issues. Section 10 of the consultation focuses on whether MAR should be amended to explicitly include or exclude collective investment undertakings (CIUs). ESMA's analysis is not only with respect to Person Discharging Managerial Responsibility (or PDMR) obligations but also other links between CIUs and their management companies and MAR that have been subject to ESMA Q&As in the past or that otherwise may not be clear for market participants.
