Facts of market manipulation in on-exchange trading for ordinary shares of PJSC SPB Exchange established (21.02.2024)

The Bank of Russia has established facts of market manipulation in on-exchange trading for ordinary shares of Public Joint-Stock Company SPB Exchange (ISIN RU000A0JQ9P9). On 27 November 2023, within 19 minutes after the opening of the main trading session, share prices plummeted: by 35.8% at PJSC MOEX, and by 13.4% at PJSC SPB Exchange. The decrease was caused by the dissemination of false information about the filing of an application for bankruptcy by PJSC SPB Exchange to the Moscow Arbitration Court. This led to significant deviations in the parameters of stock trading. As a result, market participants sold shares on unfavourable terms for them and reported losses.

As the investigation showed, PJSC SPB Exchange did not file for bankruptcy. The Bank of Russia considers the preparation of an application allegedly on behalf of PJSC SPB Exchange and sending it to the court as deliberate actions that have influenced the course of the trading session. Information about the progress of court cases is required to be posted in the Arbitration Case File — a publicly available system on the Internet located in the attention zone of telegram channels and the mass media. Therefore, information about the registration of the application has become widespread.

Pursuant to Clause 1 of Part 1 of Article 5 of Federal Law No. 224-FZ, dated 27 July 2010, ‘On Countering the Misuse of Insider Information and Market Manipulation and Amending Certain Laws of the Russian Federation’, the actions aimed at disseminating such information are classified as market manipulation. The materials of the investigation have been submitted to the law enforcement authorities.