Rathbones has reported an anonymous online tipster to the Financial Conduct Authority for what it suspects may be a case of market abuse that sent the wealth manager's share price reeling.
Under the FCA’s market abuse regulations, it is a breach if a person “posts information on an internet bulletin board or chat room which contains false or misleading statements about the takeover of a company whose shares are financial instruments and the person knows that the information is false or misleading”.
A social media post would potentially count as market abuse, and come under the remit of the regulator, if it was found that the person writing the post knew the accusations to be untrue, or had reason to believe them to be untrue.
Rathbones, the FTSE 250 wealth and investment manager, saw its share drop from £27.00 on 6 September 2017 to £25.00 on 8 September following a post on an internet chat forum by someone calling themselves 'sausagethecat', which alleged impropriety at Rathbones' Edinburgh office.
The shares also went ex-dividend at that time, which may account for some of the share price weakness.
In a statement to the market on 8 September, Rathbones noted the anonymous accusation made on the forum and said it was satisfied the accusations made against it were “without substance”.
The share price is currently £25.00, having not made back all the ground lost in the wake of the accusations.
The post on the social media site has been deleted.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
