The fines last week on former footballer Gerard Piqué and businessman José Elías, for 200,000 euros and 100,000 euros respectively, put the spotlight on the supervision of financial markets.
The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) imposed fines on them for very serious infringements, understanding that the former footballer bought shares of Atrys Health after accessing relevant non-public information linked to a future takeover bid, information that would have come from the businessman.
The illegal use and dissemination of inside information is one of the market abuses that the CNMV pursues, along with market manipulation. Inside information is considered any information that could affect the price of a listed security and is not yet public. The supervisor must ensure that no one takes advantage of this information and profits from it. The principle of equality in access to information is key in building trust in the market.
What are the rules that try to ensure this is the case? The rules operating in Spanish markets are integrated into Regulation 596/2014 on market abuse, applicable since 2016 in all Member States. "We have a reasonably good framework to prevent insider trading in the case of entirely private companies, even with a fairly sophisticated level of detail, reaching operations even of not too large amounts," points out financial analyst Javier Santacruz.
There are indeed differences with the requirements on the other side of the pond, where the volume of operations and their magnitudes are not comparable. "The difference is more in the intensity of the enforcement, the weight of criminal proceedings, agreements with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, the US supervisor) and the whistleblower program," points out Antonio Castelo, Market Resources analyst. "Although it is often thought that the American market (SEC) is more aggressive, European supervision has gained a lot of strength," adds Javier Cabrera (XTB).
Information Obligations and Action Limitations
All agents operating in the securities markets in Spain are subject to a strict regime of obligations to disclose relevant information as soon as possible. Companies are obliged to maintain an exhaustive record of all persons who have access to inside information, a real-time updated insider list.
Any information that could significantly affect a quote must be communicated as soon as possible through a privileged information (IP) announcement to the CNMV. Publication can only be delayed if it does not mislead the investor and the company can guarantee its confidentiality. Throughout 2025, the CNMV received more than 5,700 communications of privileged information and other relevant information, a 7.3% increase from the previous year.
Companies must also monitor the operations of their executives and related persons. "They are prohibited from operating during 'closed' periods, normally thirty days before presenting results, or when they possess non-public material information," points out Javier Cabrera, an analyst at XTB. Former minister Josep Borrell, for example, was fined 30,000 euros for selling a small package of Abengoa shares while he was a director.
218 operator alerts
Obligations extend to all levels of operation. Intermediaries, markets, and professionals executing orders must have surveillance systems and communicate suspicious operations to the CNMV via STOR (Suspicious Transaction and Order Report). These are not sanctions or formal accusations. They are alerts of operations, suspicious orders that entities must send to the supervisor when they detect reasonable indications, just as financial system entities must report any suspicion of a potential case of money laundering.
Last year, these types of communications to the supervisor amounted to 218 notifications, mainly related to equity instruments. Three out of four related to the use or attempted use of inside information. The figure is 21% lower than that recorded a year earlier and the lowest in the last five years.
Regarding the origin of the alert, more than half of the communications came from financial entities (129, of which 106 were for inside information), while 68 originated from other competent authorities (39 for inside information).
These operations must be sent to the authority without delay, with a period of 60 calendar days considered a reasonable guideline. The CNMV classifies these notifications based on the details provided and their degree of accuracy, possible repetition, investor profile, whether the operation yielded a relevant profit, or the temporal logic of the operation.
More information sources
This type of communication is only one of the sources of information available to the CNMV. The main one is the daily communication of operations. In 2025, it received more than 70 million records (35% more than in 2024). These exchanges also reach other competent authorities in other member states, which sent the Spanish supervisor more than 245 million pieces of information, with the CNMV sending 39 million records to its counterparts.
Another source is the database of the FIRDS (Financial Instruments Reference Database System) of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), to which trading venues send data on traded financial instruments.
On the other hand, the CNMV acts as the National Securities Coding Agency (ANCV) in the identification and classification of securities, which in 2025 increased by 25%, mainly focused on options and shares and units of collective investment institutions (IIC) and venture capital entities (ECR).
To this must be added the notifications from executives of listed companies and the aforementioned lists of insiders.
Own alert system
The supervisor has its own alert mechanism that covers equity, fixed income, and derivatives operations, according to sources from this body explained to Demócrata.
It processes information from all markets, instruments, and participants using various parameters that are, obviously, not public. In its scrutiny of information, the CNMV combines data from different sources, automated and manual alerts, including the use of artificial intelligence.
The fight against insider trading involves several departments. Detection work is carried out by Secondary Markets, responsible for the supervision of listed entities. This unit investigates based on available data and, if they detect indications of irregularities, proposes the opening of a file.
How is a file processed?
At that point, the Market Surveillance Unit would come into play, which is the department specifically dedicated to investigations and the processing of abuse files. During the past year, the CNMV carried out 36 investigations – of which 15 were closed — which led to the opening of nine sanctioning proceedings against 19 individuals or legal entities for various conduct.
The instruction of the sanctioning procedure is regulated by law. Its times are set and there is a phase of hearing in which explanations are required from the parties involved. The department in charge of this phase is the Contentious Service.
“The difficulty is not so much in detecting anomalous movements or identifying suspicious patterns,” explains Castelo, “as in legally proving the abuse.” It is not enough to identify a rise before a takeover bid or the publication of results. Sanctioning requires proving the existence of this inside information and access to it. Demonstrating that a connection has existed and there is no other legitimate explanation.
If the CNMV concludes at the end of the investigation of the file that there is grounds for sanction, it agrees to its imposition and this is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). There is also a register of sanctions that accumulates those imposed in the last five years in the case of serious and very serious infringements.
According to data published last week by the supervisor in its Annual Report, last year it closed 20 files and imposed 71 sanctions (all of them fines) for an amount of 19.4 million euros.
The most relevant ones are those related to market abuse (inside information and manipulation). They accounted for 77% of the infringements resolved in the year and fines for 9.5 million euros