Market abuse – Pre-hedging

Last summer, ESMA published a report on feedback to the 2022 call for evidence on pre-hedging practices, i.e. hedging transactions conducted in an anticipatory manner ahead of potential transactions by a client or counterparty. Following the release of the report, AMAFI reiterated to the AMF, and subsequently also to ESMA, some of the positions contained in its feedback to the European authority (AMAFI / 22-67).

In a note to the two authorities (AMAFI / 24-06), AMAFI stressed that pre-hedging is vital to orderly financial markets and should not be systematically viewed as insider dealing. It also urged ESMA to draw a clearer distinction between hedging and pre-hedging and underlined the challenges in gathering prior consent from clients for pre-hedging on electronic or request-for-quote markets.