Brussels Proposes Jail for Manipulating Bankers
October 21st, 2011
The European Commission proposed a rule this week which would require all Member States to punish with criminal penalties, including jail terms, bankers who engage in serious criminal behaviour, in particular, insider trading and market manipulation.
Europa Press reported that the policy would have limited impact because most of the Member States, including Spain, already provide in their respective national legislation, criminal penalties for such behaviour, according to EU sources.
Bulgaria is the only EU country that does not punish either for abuse of privileged information or for market manipulation, while Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland and Slovenia have not criminalised either of the two offenses.
The Brussels proposal will require all Member States to punish this type of behaviour, but without forcing them to set any minimum penalty, according to a senior EU official.
The Commission President, José Manuel Durao Barroso, justified his plans, saying that “some of the behaviour we have witnessed in the financial sector was completely irresponsible and sometimes criminal in nature.”
Proposing these sanctions “makes sense because it is sanctions that have to do with the market and we have an internal market in Europe, so it makes sense to have the same kind of sanctions across Europe,” Barroso told a news conference after participating in a tripartite social summit with European employers and trade unions.
Barroso first announced his proposal two weeks ago during an interview on ‘YouTube’ and ‘Euronews’, in response to a Spanish Internet user who had asked him about the compensation abuses of the Spanish savings banks’ directors.
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