Canada Inc & Anor v The Financial Conduct Authority

On 19 December 2013 the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal brought by a Canadian Company formerly trading as Swift Trade Inc (“Swift Trade”) in relation to findings of market manipulation made by the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber).

The Upper Tribunal had held that the Financial Conduct Authority was entitled to impose a fine of £8 million and that “layering” of the kind it found to have been orchestrated by Swift Trade constituted market manipulation within the meaning of s. 118(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

A copy of the Court of Appeal’s full judgment can be found at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/1662.html. The case is the first Court of Appeal decision to consider the meaning of market manipulation under the 2000 Act.

Timothy Otty QC and Simon Pritchard acted for the Financial Conduct Authority.