Amid growing regulatory pressure and heightened investor scrutiny, ACA Group has unveiled a new Market Abuse Risk Framework aimed at helping UK and European buy-side firms identify, manage, and monitor market abuse risks across trading activities.
The initiative arrives as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) steps up enforcement with a five-year strategy that prioritises market abuse and accountability under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR). Recent insider trading cases and the regulator’s July 2025 consultation on SM&CR reforms have further raised expectations for demonstrable, firm-wide conduct frameworks aligned with MAR and MiFID II.
Developed by ACA practitioners with extensive buy-side experience, the framework integrates surveillance, conduct, and control reviews into a single, regulator-ready model. It maps market abuse offences across asset classes, supports policy and procedure assessments, and evaluates surveillance technologies to ensure alignment with firms’ risk profiles. The solution also includes a proprietary question bank drawn from ACA’s client work and provides practical guidance on maintaining and updating the framework over time.
“What truly differentiates this solution is the depth of expertise driving it,” said Raj Somal, Partner at ACA Group. “Our clients are navigating increasingly-complex trading, and jurisdictional and infrastructure environments, and often without a clear, actionable view of their market abuse risk. This isn’t just a health check; it’s a dynamic, evolving programme that firms can use to strengthen governance, meet evolving regulatory and business expectations, and build investor confidence.”
The Market Abuse Risk Framework complements ACA’s broader compliance ecosystem, including its ComplianceAlpha® platform, which offers surveillance and monitoring tools spanning trade and communications activity, conflicts of interest, expert networks, and research oversight. Combined with advisory and managed services, these tools enable firms to remediate findings, enhance governance, and maintain ongoing compliance amid shifting regulatory expectations.
ACA will host a live session on 23 October 2025 to discuss the rising focus on market abuse, surveillance practices, and senior manager accountability across the buy-side sector.
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