Following a consultation run last year (see here), in which the financial regulation of the commodity derivatives market was considered for change, the European Commission DG FISMA has now published this report. It concludes that the sector does not require urgent change. In particular, matters such as the use of the Ancillary Activity Exemption by many market participant does not require a large change in regulation, according to the report. This will be welcome news to many. The report can be found here.

MEKH, the National Regulatory Authority in Hungary, has issued a fine of 350 million Forints (approx 985k EUR) against a market participant for market manipulation in breach of REMIT Article 5. The press release can be found here. The market participant is alleged to have repeatedly placed “phantom” buy orders in the gas market.