National Bank of Belgium to appeal Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority EUR 300,000 fine over alleged delayed inside information disclosure

The National Bank of Belgium announced that the Sanctions Committee of Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority has imposed an administrative fine of EUR 300,000 for an alleged breach of the EU Market Abuse Regulation and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055. The decision relates to a 21 September 2022 press release which, according to the Sanctions Committee, disclosed inside information with a nine-calendar-day delay and without clarifying that it concerned inside information; the Bank disputes these findings. The press release in question provided further clarification on the impact of European Central Bank policy rate increases on 21 July and 8 September 2022 on the Bank’s earnings and dividend outlook for 2022 and subsequent financial years, while stressing uncertainty and the inability at the time to assess the magnitude or dividend impact reliably. The Bank argues that as a euro area national central bank it is bound by confidentiality obligations on non-public monetary policy analysis and outlook, and that Article 6.1 of the Market Abuse Regulation exempts European System of Central Banks central banks from the regulation’s obligations and prohibitions in respect of monetary policy operations and related conduct, including disclosure under Article 17.1 and communications on monetary policy developments and their possible impact on P&L forecasts. It also contends that the information was essentially already public based on earlier reports and communiqués warning about interest rate risk from its securities portfolio, and that the 21 September 2022 statement lacked sufficient specificity and did not provide quantitative data. The National Bank of Belgium will appeal the decision to the Markets Court.