Faculty of Business Administration
FBA Distinguished Scholar Seminar
Hosted by The Business Research and Training Center
Insider Trading and Market Manipulation: Three Case Studies from the Finance Sector
Prof. Jonathan A. BATTEN
Professor of Finance at RMIT University Melbourne, Australia
Date: Monday, 20 September 2021
Time: 11:30 am
Format: Online via Zoom
Online registration:
Abstract
The presentation will cover recent work on market manipulation and insider trading with a focus on the Hill and Kamay foreign exchange market, insider-trading conviction, and two case-studies on market manipulation: the LIBOR Scandal and by London-based foreign exchange rate fixing by members of the “Cartel” or Mafia”. The presentation will highlight (a) the limitations of financial market surveillance; (b) show how insiders trade strategically to minimize detection risk and reduce the impact of offsetting news to maximize financial advantage, and (c) the limited role of top-down regulatory models when regulators rely on whistleblowing.
Biography
Jonathan A. Batten is a Professor of Finance at RMIT University Melbourne and the managing editor of Elsevier’s Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money (JIFMIM), coeditor of Finance Research Letters, and senior editor of Emerging Markets Review. He also remains an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney Australia and the East China University of Science and Technology Shanghai China. He previously held the CIMB-UUM Chair in Banking and Finance at University Utara Malaysia. Prior to working in academia, he held senior treasury and risk management consulting positions with several institutions including Bank of Tokyo, Credit Lyonnais, IBM Consulting and Reuters Ltd. Jonathan’s published research crosses several disciplines: firstly, in the business area on insider trading and market manipulation, bond pricing and corporate foreign exchange risk management; secondly, in energy and applied mathematics on complexity in financial time series and market integration; and thirdly, in economic policy on financial market development and the societal impacts of foreign direct investment. His current research is based on assessing the impact on banking and financial markets of the expected worldwide shift to renewable energy and adjusting to the effects of climate change.
