CNVM gears up for higher penalties to protect Stock Exchange investors

The representatives of the capital market regulator, the National Securities Commission (CNVM), say the institution is preparing legislative changes in a bid to raise the value of fines levied in the case of market abuse, after recent problems found.

“The biggest penalty we can enforce, as a ruling institution, is a fine of 5% in share capital and there are many firms with a very low share capital. This is how we’ve come to fine firms registered in tax havens, such as Belize, with a 200-dollar share capital. A step that can be taken is for fines to be calculated as a percentage of turnover. For instance, the Competition Council can impose penalties of as much as 10% in a company’s previous year turnover,” says Bogdan Chetreanu, CNVM commissioner.
He specified the institution was working on some concrete stipulations to increase the amount of fines. However, for these stipulations to come into effect, the state’s representatives have to approve in Parliament the necessary changes related to capital market legislation.