Parker v Financial Services Authority

Acted for the Applicant (a finance manager of a listed company) in a reference to the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal in which he was accused by the FSA of committing market abuse by spread betting on his company’s share price.  The case established an important procedural precedent: the Tribunal held in an interlocutory hearing that “the matter” referred to the Tribunal in a market abuse case is the whole decision notice which is referred, including the allegations made in it and the action proposed, which has the effect that the FSA is not permitted to introduce new allegations of market abuse in an existing reference, without first issuing a new warning notice and decision notice.