Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the statement published by the US Department of Justice on 21 December 2021 after the guilty plea by NatWest for various fraud schemes in the markets for US Treasury securities and futures contracts, what plans they have to commission an independent inquiry into the bank’s operations.
‘Spoofing’ is the practice of placing orders in financial markets with the intention of cancelling said orders and attempting to profit from any resulting price changes. It is prohibited under the UK Market Abuse Regulation, as it gives false or misleading signals as to the supply or demand of a financial instrument.
In the UK, the FCA is responsible for identifying and preventing market abuse, and taking enforcement action against persons committing market abuse where appropriate. The FCA actively monitors UK markets for potential market manipulation, and any investigation into that activity would be conducted by the regulator. UK trading venues and persons professionally arranging or executing transactions who are located in the UK are required to have arrangements in place to monitor, detect, and report such market manipulation to the FCA.