The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has raised, by way of a general decision effective since January 1, 2020, the thresholds for proprietary transactions to be reported by executives of listed companies and other notifiable issuers – so-called directors’ dealings – from EUR 5,000.00 per calendar year to EUR 20,000.00. BaFin has thus followed the example of numerous other EU countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, and has made use of the right granted to the national financial supervisory authorities in Article 19 of the European Market Abuse Regulation (MAR).
The reporting obligations for directors’ dealings, which are intended in particular to prevent insider trading, apply to persons who perform management tasks for the issuers of financial instruments affected by the statutory regulations of MAR as well as to persons who are closely related to such managers.
According to BaFin, reports below the new reporting threshold of EUR 20,000.00, which has only corresponded to a proportion of around 16 % to 19 % of all reports since the MAR came into effect, have a comparatively low signal effect on the capital market. From a transparency perspective, BaFin therefore does not consider it necessary to provide the capital market with information on transactions below the new reporting threshold. Another reason for the increase of reporable thresholds has also been the fact that the associated reduction in the number of reports can reduce the previously high level of organizational and financial expenditure, especially for small and medium-sized issuers. However, BaFin can revoke the new reporting thresholds for the future at any time.