Memo: Market abuse: Justice Ministers agree Commission proposals on criminal sanctions

In the recent LIBOR scandal, serious concerns have been raised about the manipulation of benchmarks, which can result in significant losses to consumers and investors, or distort the real economy. The integrity of financial markets is also undermined by market manipulation and insider dealing.

European justice ministers meeting in the Council of the European Union have reached an agreement on the Commission's proposals for a Directive on insider dealing and market manipulation that will criminalise such behaviour. As the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee adopted its first reading opinion on the proposals on 9 October 2012, negotiations between the co-legislators and the Commission for their final adoption can now begin.