The Financial Conduct Authority has responded to calls from MPs to investigate the handling of information ahead of the Autumn Budget 2023 and whether it amounts to market abuse.

Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the FCA, wrote to Dame Meg Hillier (MP) and the Treasury Select Committee, in a letter seen by Financial Planning Today, noting that how the Government chose to communicate its position ahead of the Budget is a matter for Parliament rather than for the FCA.

However, the FCA said it has requested the details of the Permanent Secretary’s review into the Treasury’s security process and will “consider as appropriate” any findings into any leak of market sensitive or inside information.

The FCA said it has received enquiries around three main allegations in relation to the Autumn Budget:

• That briefings by Ministers and Government officials were misleading and
• may have amounted to market manipulation.
• Inappropriate placing of market sensitive or inside information into the
• public domain through Government briefings or leaks.
• The early release of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) Economic
• and Fiscal Outlook.

The regulator said enquiries suggested that the trio of events contributed to significant movements in markets it oversees.

In the letter Mr Rathi said: “The core purpose of the Market Abuse Regulation is to ensure a level playing field so that, to the greatest possible extent, all participants can have confidence in the integrity of markets. Its purpose is not to make judgments on political discourse, even though that discourse may on occasion have an impact on markets.”

The regulator added that it is considering the OBR’s investigation into the early release of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook and welcomed the report’s conclusion that it will cooperate with the FCA.