Directors’ Dealings and Insider Trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Private purchases and sales by management of shares they own in the company they manage

Directors’ dealings cover securities transactions by people with management duties at publicly traded companies. Since 1 July 2002, such transactions are subject to new notification rules. Per section 15a of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), people at publicly traded companies who have leadership duties, or people who have close relationships with these managers, must declare any securities transactions made with their own contingent of company shares.

Through the Fourth Financial Markets Promotion Act (FiMaFöG), the reporting requirement for so-called directors’ dealings was expanded to apply to all companies admitted for trading on the Regulated Market. This requirement used to apply only to companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s technology segment, Neuer Markt.

The goals of the new regulation covering directors’ dealings is to provide better investor protection, make the financial markets more transparent and to create more trust. In conjunction with the new rules for ad-hoc announcements, private investors are now offered a basis for damages claims in the case of missing or late publication of facts influencing the price development of a share.

Investors can review directors’ dealings online:

Database of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Agency (BaFin)
BaFin operates an Internet platform that publishes directors’ dealings.

www.insiderdaten.de
A privately run Web site that presents stock transactions in a very clear manner. The latest transactions are sorted by company, insider name, date and order volume.

Synonym: insider trading