The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written to the Treasury Select Committee outlining how it is handling concerns about the disclosure of information ahead of the Autumn Budget 2025.
It follows calls from MPs for the regulator to investigate whether recent events may have amounted to market abuse.
In a letter to committee chair Dame Meg Hillier, FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi said the regulator had not opened a formal enforcement investigation but recognised “the public and the Committee’s interest” in the steps it is taking.
He noted that confidentiality rules usually prevent the FCA discussing live enquiries “unless they lead to a public outcome”.
Rathi emphasised the regulator’s statutory role, stating: “We are the competent authority in the UK for market abuse. This includes the offences of unlawful disclosure of inside information and market manipulation.”
He added that the FCA supports public bodies in assessing whether they hold inside information and in understanding how it should be handled, through guidance and training.
The letter summarises three concerns raised with the regulator about the period leading up to the Budget:
- Whether briefings by ministers or Government officials were misleading and could amount to market manipulation.
- Whether inappropriate leaks or briefings placed market-sensitive or inside information into the public domain.
- The early release of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
It has been suggested that these events may have contributed to “significant movements in markets overseen by the FCA”, Rathi wrote.
He stressed, however, that the Market Abuse Regulation is designed to maintain a “level playing field” and ensure confidence in market integrity.
“Its purpose is not to make judgments on political discourse, even though that discourse may on occasion have an impact on markets,” he added.
Rathi noted that the Government’s communication strategy ahead of fiscal events “is a matter for Parliament”, pointing to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury’s statements on 1 and 2 December addressing the Budget process.
The Chief Secretary had told MPs that “the Government take the Budget process and our responsibilities to this House very seriously” and confirmed that a leak inquiry is under way, alongside a review of security processes for future fiscal events.
The FCA has asked the Treasury for details of this work and requested that the findings — including the results of any inquiry into leaks of market-sensitive information — be shared with the regulator “so we can consider as appropriate”.
Rathi also confirmed that the FCA is reviewing the Office for Budget Responsibility’s investigation into the premature release of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
He said the regulator welcomed the statement from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) that it “will cooperate fully with the FCA”.
Earlier this week, the chair of the OBR resigned after the watchdog’s forecasts were published in error hours ahead of last week’s Budget.
