Ruling Disciplinary Committee | DSI 2016-04

Fine for serious violation of code of conduct

Ruling Disciplinary Committee DSI 2016-04 dated February 13, 2017

On February 13, 2017, the DSI Disciplinary Committee ruled in a case against a former Investment Analyst. The complaint concerned the careless handling of price-sensitive information of Company X, including not immediately reporting this information to compliance, discussing the figures in the dealing room and distributing the annual figures via Bloomberg to 50 people before Company X itself had issued a press release.

Disciplinary Committee ruling

The Disciplinary Committee ruled that the Respondent seriously breached professionalism, competence and integrity. Respondent should have immediately reported the information received to compliance and not disseminated it before it was officially made public. Distributing the figures via Bloomberg to third parties violated the Code of Conduct. The committee considered the context, but found the complaint partially justified.

Articles DSI Code of Conduct applicable: 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.1.4 and 7.3.1

The Disciplinary Committee imposed a fine of €1,250 on the Respondent. No order for costs of proceedings was imposed.

Linkage to DSI Core Principles.

• Core principle 6: Ensure confidentiality:
  The defendant should have handled price-sensitive information carefully and not disseminated it before it was officially made public.
• Core principle 9: Show expertise:
  Disseminating unpublished figures to third parties does not demonstrate professionalism and expertise and damages trust in the industry.