In an opening speech on European market abuse litigation, French Financial Markets Authority Chair Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani reviewed the authority’s enforcement record and argued that the AMF needs stronger investigative tools to respond to increasingly complex and international market abuse cases. She placed particular emphasis on international insider dealing networks, which she said increasingly rely on hacking or corruption to obtain inside information and in some cases appear to be linked to organized crime, making closer cooperation with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office and foreign regulators central to enforcement. Barbat-Layani said the AMF has opened an average of 45 investigations a year since 2016, almost all involving possible market abuse, including 19 on its own initiative and 26 on behalf of foreign counterparts. Over the past decade, its sanctions committee has imposed an average of 18 market abuse sanctions a year, while since 2021 it has approved about 10 administrative settlements covering insider dealing or market manipulation. She also pointed to ESMA data showing France recorded the highest aggregate sanctions amounts among member states at about EUR 29 million, including about EUR 20 million linked to market abuse, and said the AMF sent 35 referrals or responses to judicial authorities or TRACFIN in 2025, up from 26 in 2024. As evidence of progress against insider networks, she cited a Paris criminal court ruling of 13 April 2026 sentencing three individuals to prison terms of up to three years and fines of up to EUR 30 million, following earlier plea-based outcomes for four others in the same case. The speech also set out the AMF’s requested next steps. Barbat-Layani backed rapid adoption of a bill introduced in September 2025 that would give AMF investigators the ability to use assumed identities and automated extraction of public social media data, and she called for a leniency regime to help dismantle insider networks. She also welcomed a new provision allowing the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office and investigating judges to requisition AMF investigators alongside judicial investigators in the most serious market abuse cases. Looking ahead, she said market abuse enforcement will also be shaped by the EU Listing Act’s cross-market order book surveillance mechanism and by MiCA, under which the AMF gains responsibilities for detecting, supervising and sanctioning crypto-asset market abuse through ESMA’s MIDAS surveillance system.
France Autorite des marches financiers2026-06-23
French Financial Markets Authority urges stronger market abuse powers as it highlights rise in international insider networks
In a speech on European market abuse litigation, the French Financial Markets Authority said stronger investigative powers are needed as market abuse cases become more international and insider dealing networks grow more organized. The AMF highlighted its enforcement record, rising cooperation with prosecutors and foreign regulators, and recent criminal convictions in France tied to insider networks. It also backed legislative changes including assumed identities, web scraping powers and a leniency regime, while pointing to upcoming EU tools for cross-market and crypto-asset surveillance.