20th Jan 2015 10:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK regulator The Financial Conduct Authority Tuesday said it has fined Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC GBP539,800 for listing rule failures, saying the consumer goods giant had been late and incomplete in letting the market know about share dealings by two senior executives over a seven year period to October 2012.
The FCA said Reckitt Benckiser had inadequate systems and controls in place to monitor share-dealing by its senior executives in its own shares. The FCA's rules are designed to ensure that senior executives do not abuse or use inside information to trade.
"This contributed to late and incomplete disclosure to the market of share dealings by two senior executives," the FCA said in a statement.
The FCA said Reckitt Benckiser failed on a number of counts in relation to share dealing by two of its senior executives between July 2005 and October 2012.
Under the FCA's rules, companies must disclose director dealings in shares as soon as they know about them, and the dealings must include details such as the date on which the disclosure was made to the company, the date the transaction was done, the price, amount and class of securities concerned, the nature of the transaction, and the nature and extent of the director?s interest in the transaction.
"The FCA expects all listed companies to learn the lessons from this case and to ensure they have the right controls and training in place," said Georgina Philippou, the FCA's acting director of enforcement and market oversight.
Reckitt Benckiser agreed to settle at an early stage of the investigation, meaning it qualified for a 30% discount. Without it, the FCA would have imposed a financial penalty of GBP771,190.
Shares in Reckitt Benckiser were up 0.1% at 5,375.75 pence mid-morning Tuesday.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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