The rise of fines for systems and controls failures

Our 2025 Global trends in market abuse and trade surveillance report found that, of all market abuse typologies, fines related to trade surveillance systems and controls failures saw by far the steepest increase in 2024 with an 862.5& increase year-on-year from 2023.

Trade surveillance systems and controls failures are defined as follows:

Deficiencies in data, systems and controls required to monitor trading activities and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, including data governance. It involves the use of technology and processes to detect and investigate potential breaches, such as market manipulation, insider trading, and other forms of misconduct.

The reasons for the increase are manifold, but it can primarily be seen as an attempt by global financial regulators to get ahead of market manipulation; by strictly enforcing legislation around controls and processes, regulators hope to be able to stop abusive trading before it takes place, maintaining a safer and more transparent market in the process.

Learn more about this topic by downloading our 2025 Global trends in market abuse and trade surveillance report.