The Nasdaq Stockholm has been fined SEK 100 million (US$9.6 million) by Sweden’s financial supervisory authority Finansinspektionen for failing to detect and report suspected insider trading.
Finansinspektionen said on Wednesday it had investigated four major company events in 2021 and 2022 and two other cases of the trading of financial instruments in 2022 and 2023.
“The investigations show that, in conjunction with the four company events, there have been deficiencies in how Nasdaq Stockholm has conducted its trading monitoring, which should prevent, identify and report insider dealing,” the regulator said in a statement.
“The investigations also show that Nasdaq Stockholm on two occasions initiated trading in financial instruments in violation of the regulatory framework.”
Finansinspektionen added that the violations were of a nature that there are grounds to intervene against the Nasdaq Stockholm, but “not so serious” that there are grounds to withdraw the exchange’s authorization or issue it a warning.
The Nasdaq Stockholm said in a statement to news agency AFP that it took the matter "very seriously.”
"We maintain our position that we had sufficient capabilities to detect insider dealings," the exchange said, adding that it would assess the regulator’s "interpretation of our obligations and its implications."