Companies need to control the number of employees with access to unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) while junior employees privy to such confidential data should also be kept under the scanner, says financial services advisory KPMG.
The observation gains significance on the back of the ongoing probe by market regulator SEBI into circulation of such information through social media groups prior to financial results in the June quarter when financial details of various major corporates were circulated on Whatsapp groups before they were made public. According to KPMG India partner for forensic services Sudesh Shetty, there is a need to “limiting the access of social media or instant messaging platforms during sensitive time period”.
“Monitoring of incorporated standard operating procedures around UPSI and its adherence is critical. It is not just the action on individual’s trade which should be looked upon. While ability to track and trace movement of UPS platforms during sensitive time period”.
“Monitoring of incorporated standard operating procedures around UPSI and its adherence is critical. It is not just the action on individual’s trade which should be looked upon. While ability to track and trace movement of UPSI should be a dedicated function within the secretarial and legal team,” Shetty said.
Shetty also believes that companies should record such conversations, build control rooms for handling period-end activities, block access of instant messaging activities, controls printers, super-user and controlling administrative rights, among others. “Technological controls, if configured right, allow an organisation to pick the bread crumbs/trail left behind by any. This helps in identifying perpetrators on the inside and or colluders on the outside who could be brought to the regulators for timely action,” Shetty said.