The watchdog's latest annual report said it had 72 open insider dealing cases as of 31 March 2022, compared to 71 the prior year. It had 88 open insider dealing cases as of March 2020, before the pandemic gripped Britain. Stamping out market abuse such as insider dealing – trading a company's publicly-quoted securities with access to confidential, market-moving information - is a key enforcement area for the FCA. The FCA said the insider dealing arrests and searches disclosed to Reuters related to suspect activity both before and after March 2020, when Britain first imposed COVID-19 lockdowns. The watchdog added they were unrelated to four insider dealing prosecutions it had commenced since March 2020.

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