Financial Regulator takes over monitoring of stock market

The Financial Regulator is to take over the policing of the Irish Stock market from the Irish Stock Exchange from the end of next year.

The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority will have day-to-day responsibility for detecting and investigating market abuse.

The changes are in line with new EU reforms on the regulation of financial markets.

Sources deny the decision is connected to the fall-out from the high profile Fyffes DCC insider dealing case, when questions about the impartiality of the Irish Stock Exchange were raised.

Fyffes lost the €106m case against its former director, DCC managing director Jim Flavin.

The case centred on the sales of Fyffes shares by DCC. The presiding judge ruled that the sale by Mr Flavin was not unlawful.