News and insights from eflow

2025 market abuse and trade surveillance roundup: Investment managers

In 2025, global investment managers were the subject of $52 million in fines, with enforcement concentrated in a small number of high-impact cases.

Q1 2026 enforcement update: New risks emerging, familiar failures persist

In Q1 2026, we saw 25 enforcement actions across 6 jurisdictions totalling $65m.

2025 market abuse and trade surveillance roundup: Broker-dealers

A deep dive of the key trade surveillance and market abuse trends impacting broker dealers

eflow launches 2026 market abuse and trade surveillance report

AI-driven risk and trade surveillance process gaps dominate the regulatory landscape for regulatory professionals

eflow launches RegCheck service to help firms cut compliance costs by up to 30%

Complimentary audit service helps mid-market firms identify opportunities to consolidate vendors and reduce costs

Modern trade surveillance in the UK

eflow client base surges 23% as trading complexity intensifies surveillance demands

eflow, a leading provider of regulatory compliance technology for financial services, today announces 23% client growth in 2025.

FINRA Market Oversight Report 2026 – What you need to know

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has published its 2026 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report (the Report). Member firms are expected to incorporate relevant elements of the Report into their compliance programs in a way that reflects their specific activities and risk profiles. For market abuse, there are several noteworthy updates to FINRA’s commentary on manipulative trading, along with a new section covering the use of generative AI (GenAI) by member firms. In this blog, we focus on the key need-to-know developments.

The future of compliance automation: Trends to watch

eflow expands TZEC platform with new eComms archiving and surveillance modules

eflow, a leading provider of regulatory compliance technology, today announced further enhancements to its TZEC platform, a comprehensive suite of eComms archiving and surveillance tools to help financial institutions meet their global regulatory obligations.

eflow launches PATH AI as trade surveillance enforcement surges to $1.8 billion

eflow, a leading provider of regulatory compliance technology, has today announced the launch of PATH AI, a new AI-powered functionality integrated into its award-winning TZTS Trade Surveillance system.

Streamlining transaction reporting with automation tools

In today’s post-Brexit regulatory environment, UK financial firms face mounting pressure to navigate increasingly complex and divergent compliance requirements. Transaction reporting has rapidly evolved as FCA expectations tighten and reforms like EMIR Refit (both UK and EU iterations) introduce more granular reporting standards. It has moved from a routine obligation into a critical, high-stakes function requiring speed, precision, and flexibility.

How to prepare for regulatory audits

No financial firm wants to face a regulatory audit unprepared, but in today’s increasingly complex landscape, regulatory audit preparation isn’t optional - it’s a strategic imperative. Whether it’s a full-scope review from the FCA, a focused inspection under MAR rules, or an unannounced inspection as part of a thematic review or enforcement action, the pressure to demonstrate airtight compliance is rising across the UK and EU.

Finalto selects eflow to strengthen trade surveillance and best execution monitoring

Global financial services leader, Finalto, selected eflow after evaluating multiple providers, choosing its integrated regulatory technology to enhance operational efficiency and oversight across its trading operations

Q3 2025 Enforcement Update

Top three compliance challenges for CFD Brokers in 2025 and beyond

Contracts for Difference (CFDs) remain one of the most heavily scrutinised areas of retail trading. Regulators globally are sharpening their focus on the risks these products pose and the way firms manage them in practice. The themes are consistent: protect investors, prevent market abuse, and build operational resilience. In this blog, we break down how those priorities are playing out across supervision and what CFD brokers should be doing to stay ahead.

eflow launches advanced crypto surveillance tool and forges ahead with leadership expansion

Advanced surveillance tool will empower firms to monitor crypto asset trading activity alongside traditional asset classes.

High-impact market manipulation tactics in the U.S.: Red flags for modern surveillance teams

With billions in recent enforcement actions, the SEC and CFTC have made it clear: firms must identify and mitigate abuse proactively.

CySEC’s new sanctions regime: What investment firms must do to stay compliant

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is moving to significantly strengthen its sanctions enforcement regime, and CFD brokers are directly in scope.

Understanding Market Abuse as a Strategic Threat: Compliance and Reputation at Risk

Regulation in 2025 - Our take on what we've seen so far this year

A new era of accountability in Asia’s capital markets

Asia’s capital markets have grown significantly over the past decade and are now home to around 55% of the world’s listed companies, with a combined market capitalisation of $34 trillion USD. The subsequent surge in liquidity and trading activity creates more opportunities for institutional and retail investors. But, as trade volumes rise, so too does the risk of market abuse.

Cross-product manipulation in financial markets

While cross-product manipulation is nothing new, cutting-edge technologies have created opportunities for this complex form of market abuse.

Q2 2025 enforcement update: New signals emerge from the new administration

After a record-breaking 2024, and a fast start to 2025, global enforcement actions finally slowed down in the second quarter. While the value of closed enforcement actions dropped, regulators remained active in other ways, with important signals emerging in the US regarding the priorities of this new administration.

eflow launches trade surveillance Sandbox functionality to help compliance teams cope with rise in market volatility

New functionality allows compliance teams to test and refine alert parameters in a risk-free replica of their trade surveillance system, addressing the industry’s ongoing false positive challenge.

Eliminating low-quality alerts in Regtech: The case for smarter flag generation

What is MAR Regulation? Overview and Implications

Introduced in July 2016, the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) replaced the Market Abuse Directive (MAD) to create a stronger, more uniform framework for tackling insider trading and market manipulation across EU financial markets

Key takeaways from FINRA’s 2025 Annual Conference

FINRA’s Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., is a cornerstone event in the regulatory calendar - here are some of our key takeaways from the event.

The FCA’s strategic shift

eflow and EXANTE partner to tackle market abuse through enhanced trade surveillance data

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eflow publishes U.S Trends in Market Abuse and Trade Surveillance 2025

New survey and report detail challenges faced by compliance executives as they try to keep abreast of evolving regulations and how they wish regulators could better support them.

How the U.S. is rewriting the enforcement playbook

The FCA’s 5-year strategy: What it means for trade surveillance, market abuse, and the RegTech frontier

Q1 2025 Enforcement Update

Staying ahead of regulatory reporting updates

Regulatory reporting is no longer a static requirement; it's a fast-moving target. Across every major financial jurisdiction, regulators like ESMA, the FCA, the SEC, and MAS are continuously revising rules, introducing new reporting standards, and demanding more granular, real-time transparency. From EMIR Refit to MiFIR transaction adjustments and Dodd-Frank updates, the pace of change has become a defining challenge for compliance teams.

eflow and DHI partner to transform market abuse detection through AI-powered trade surveillance

New partnership will integrate DHI’s advanced AI tools into eflow’s market-leading trade surveillance technology to provide more accurate and efficient detection of market abuse risks.

Regulation, strategy, and leadership in RegTech

Rhetoric meets reality: What Trump 2.0 means for financial regulation

The ultimate guide to regulatory reporting automation

Financial institutions today face an unprecedented volume and velocity of regulatory reporting requirements. The introduction of complex frameworks such as MiFIR, EMIR Refit, SFTR, Dodd-Frank, and ASIC reporting has reshaped compliance from a back-office obligation into a firm-wide priority. Coupled with the rise of real-time and T+1 mandates, the margin for error has all but disappeared.

How Regtech is shaping the future of crypto compliance

The role of technology in streamlining transaction reporting

Technology Innovations in Regtech: AI, Blockchain, and Automation

Unpacking FINRA’s Annual Regulatory Oversight Report: Findings, failings and best practices from 2024

Brokers: Unlocking commercial opportunities with trade surveillance

Q4 2024 enforcements: A closer look at where regulators took action

Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) - What is it and why is it important?

Best execution compliance in a global context

While global regulatory standards are growing more harmonised year on year, there still remains a significant degree of variation when it comes to global best execution regulations. Staying on top of this is a key challenge for firms looking to stay compliant.

Market Integrity in Focus: FCA’s Call to Action for CFD Providers

The FCA has published a Portfolio Letter warning CFD brokers of critical regulatory risks.

As US regulators clamp down, how are other regulators managing eComms surveillance?

The FCA has published a Portfolio Letter warning CFD brokers of critical regulatory risks.

Compliant Communication: ESMA’s Guidance for Safe Pre-Close Calls

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and some national competent authorities (NCAs) have observed "high-volatility episodes" in EU equities shortly after pre-close calls.

Navigating the complexities of best execution legislation

The SEC’s record-breaking enforcement results for the fiscal year 2024

The SEC enforced a record-breaking $8.2 billion in regulatory fines for the fiscal year 2024.

What eflow saw at XLoD London - The challenges, insights and questions still to be answered

A summary of the key regulatory trends that emerged from the XLoD Summit in London.

Streamlining compliance: Tackling Fund Managers’ regulatory pain points

The financial sector is full of regulatory complexities, and Fund Managers are no exception. As regulations become more stringent and data requirements grow more intricate, many are turning to technology to keep up with their regulatory obligations.

FCA Market Watch 81: Transaction reporting data quality improves, but work still to be done

The latest edition of Market Watch focuses on the FCA's supervision of the UK MiFID transaction reporting regime and covers their assessment of findings from skilled person reviews.

Navigating compliance challenges: How Hedge Funds are leveraging technology to stay ahead

Hedge Funds have come under closer scrutiny from regulators as increasingly stringent regulatory requirements have been introduced. To address this, many are turning to technology to provide them with the tools needed to automate and streamline their compliance processes.

Why an order book replay is an essential component of a holistic trade surveillance strategy

As manipulative trading activity grows in sophistication, many firms now face the need to investigate potentially suspicious behaviour that is no longer at the top of the order book, which is where an order book replay comes in.

Reducing false positives in trade surveillance

Managing false positives effectively is a crucial element to any trade surveillance system. When incorrectly configured, these alerts can not only overwhelm compliance teams, but also increase the risk that truly manipulative behaviours go unnoticed.

RegTech Market Trends and Future Challenges: A conversation with eflow’s Head of Surveillance

eflow's Head of Surveillance Jonathan Dixon discusses the technologies shaping the future of regulatory technology

Global regulatory enforcement action update - Q3 2024

eflow's quarterly review of the regulatory enforcement action taken by global regulators.

The five most common transaction reporting errors, and how to combat them

Accurate transaction reporting is crucial for ensuring market transparency and regulatory compliance. We explore the five most common reasons that cause firms to encounter errors in their transaction reporting under EMIR and MiFIR, and how eflow can help you to avoid them.

Harnessing technology: How asset and wealth managers are tackling market abuse

Identifying and managing market abuse is a highly complex challenge. Many asset and wealth managers are turning to technology as a tool to enhance their regulatory oversight and control.

US market abuse crackdown: How integrated surveillance can protect firms

US regulators, led by the SEC and CFTC, have made headlines in recent years through their aggressive enforcement actions to safeguard market integrity.

FCA requests details of communication policy breaches

In a move that mirrors the stance of US regulators, the FCA surveying UK banks to find out more about the role off-channel comms play in their businesses.

eflow launches ‘Market Abuse Health Check’ as global trading fines reach $800 million in first half of 2024

AMFI introduces new market manipulation standards for Indian asset management companies

AMFI is rolling out new standards for institutional mechanisms to detect and deter market manipulation, including front-running and fraudulent transactions within AMCs.

EMIR Refit - What you need to know and what you need to do

EMIR (European Market Infrastructure Regulation) Companies with trading activities in the European Economic Area are obligated to comply to new EMIR refit

SEBI's latest circular: Strengthening AMC to combat market abuse and front-running

The Indian regulator's latest circular implements strengthened controls around surveillance systems for Asset Management Companies (AMCs)

Unpacking ESMA’s technical standards for best execution: A closer look at the latest consultation

ESMA's latest best execution consultation paper seeks input on new proposed amendments to MiFID II's best ex rules.

UK MAR and market abuse after Brexit - The new regime explained

Brexit impact on market abuse regulation in the UK? This article explores how MAR is being incorporated into UK law following the UK's exit from European Union.

Why brokers are embracing regulatory technology to streamline their transaction reporting

The landscape of broker trading is one of the most dynamic in the financial services sector. As a result of the evolving nature of their activity, they are increasingly drawing the attention of regulators.

Trade surveillance, unstructured data and privacy concerns

US Regulatory Enforcement Compared to the Rest of the World

US regulatory enforcement leads globally in both the volume and severity of fines for market abuse.

The Future of compliance: Predictive analytics and proactive surveillance

eflow’s role in the FCA Market Abuse Surveillance Tech Sprint

eflow's recent participation in the FCA's Market Abuse Surveillance Tech Sprint highlights the important role that AI and machine learning will play in the future of financial regulation.

How a transaction reporting system can simplify your EMIR reporting processes

Does borderless trading require a revised approach to trade surveillance?

As financial markets grow ever more globalised, the need for cross-border trade surveillance is growing ever stronger.

eflow launches enhanced eComms Surveillance tool

The TZEC platform ingests data from multiple digital sources to detect suspicious behaviour and mitigate market abuse

H1 enforcement roundup: Firms'' systems and controls are called into question

eflow’s quarterly review of enforcement action from around the globe for H1 2024.

21X selects eflow's regulatory technology as it builds Europe’s first fully regulated DLT exchange

21X has chosen eflow’s holistic regulatory technology to power its compliance strategy as it creates Europe’s first DLT exchange infrastructure for crypto assets and security tokens.

Market Watch 79: the need for stronger testing of surveillance systems

The FCA’s latest Market Watch presents findings from a peer review of firms’ testing of automated surveillance models.

Emerging threats and the importance of market abuse surveillance

Protect your reputation & fulfil your regulatory obligations by identifying emerging threats & recognising the importance of market abuse surveillance systems.

FCA Market Watch 79 highlights firms’ fundamental trade surveillance failures

The latest edition of Market Watch published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) focuses on some of the most common failures of firms’ trade surveillance strategies. It also details the findings from the regulators’ recent peer review of firms’ testing of front-running surveillance models.

SEBI approves amendments to market abuse regulations

SEBI, the Indian financial regulator, has approved amendments to existing market abuse rules for Asset Management Companies (AMCs).

The need for borderless surveillance

Borderless markets require borderless surveillance. Yet conducting trade surveillance across borders and addressing issues like cross-market spoofing presents several challenges.

The impact of inaccurate instrument reference data on MiFIR reporting

The pros and cons of AI in trading

Cross-border compliance is a challenge for 74% of firms

Risk orchestration and transaction reporting

Enforcements update: almost $400 million dished out in fines in the first two months of 2024

In the first two months of 2024, nearly $400 million in fines have been enforced by global financial regulators.

MiFIR, EMIR & SFTR: The ongoing impact of Brexit

Despite being so far removed from the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the impact of Brexit is still being felt on transaction reporting

FCA releases Market Watch 77

A review of the FCA's latest Market Watch 77 and the key regulatory issues that financial firms need to consider

eflow launches Global Trends in Market Abuse and Trade Surveillance report

FCA releases Market Watch 76

The FCA releases Market Watch 76 - eflow's team explains the key themes.

US move to T+1 settlement puts pressure on UK and EU markets

The US move to trade settlement T+1 has been well flagged, with industrywide testing beginning on 14 August 2023. While the official switch from T+2 to T+1 settlement will not occur until May 2024, the move places significant pressure on the UK, EU and Swiss markets to follow suit.

eflow announces international expansion and key strategic hires

eflow announces international expansion and key strategic hires, as client base grows by 57% and uptake of trade surveillance tech soars