The EU Listing Act (the Listing Act), adopted by the European Parliament on April 24, 2024, introduces several significant changes to the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and other related financial regulations to reduce burdens on listed companies and to make public markets more attractive by simplifying regulatory requirements and reducing costs (with a view to small and medium-sized company issuers), as well as enhancing market transparency and integrity. For those U.S. companies operating in Europe, here is a condensed overview of some of the key anticipated changes.

A broker-dealer settled FINRA charges for incorrectly returning borrowed shares in its fully paid securities lending program, and for allowing an unregistered individual to oversee software development related to its securities finance business.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler touted recently adopted rules covering the equity markets, clearing and settlement, short selling and securities lending.

For those not familiar with it, let’s start with some basics. The European Union’s market abuse regime consists of two pieces of legislation, the Market Abuse Regulation, directly applicable across Member States, and the Market Abuse Directive on criminal sanctions for market abuse.

In its 2024 enforcement report based on 2023 data, the North American Securities Administrators Association highlighted an increase in enforcement actions tied to digital assets, social media fraud, Ponzi schemes and precious metals scams.