Istanbul Bourse Steps Up Punishments for ‘Misleading Commentary’
Istanbul Bourse Steps Up Punishments for ‘Misleading Commentary’
(Bloomberg) --
Istanbul’s stock exchange increased potential fines for market professionals who mislead investors and broadened the scope of its penalties to include views expressed in the media as it steps up efforts to discourage abuses following a surge in share trading among Turks.
“False, wrong and misleading commentary and advice” about capital markets published in newspapers, the internet, in social media, or broadcast on television was added to a roster of punishable acts, according to regulations issued Friday.
Market professionals found to have interacted with individuals who are thought to have misled members of investment chat groups now face fines of as much as 5 million liras ($660,000) a 100-fold increase, according to the notice in the government gazette.
The harsher rules follow a rush into stocks this year by domestic investors, seeking alternatives to the low interest paid by bank accounts, their traditional method of saving, in the face of rising inflation. The number of local investors rose by almost half a million this year to about 1.7 million, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sept. 13, citing official data.
Domestic retail investors tend to pick small- and medium-sized stocks, in contrast with foreign institutions that favor major corporations or banks. The Borsa Istanbul SME Industrial Index has jumped 219% this year, compared with a loss of 11% in an index of the 30 largest Turkish stocks.
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