Hanfa publicly reprimanded MOL

The Management of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) today ordered the Hungarian MOL to “cease public statements with unverified information regarding the trading of INA shares” and issued a public reprimand to MOL.

This decision was made by the Management of Hanfa at today’s meeting and published on its website. Hanfa emphasizes in the reasoning of the decision that during the supervisory process, through an examination of several media reports, it determined that yesterday, December 15, at a press conference, the spokesperson of the MOL Group in Croatia, Domokos Szollar, made a series of claims and assessments regarding the trading of INA shares on December 14 and 15 on the regulated market of the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

"The Agency assesses that the public statements made through the media about a non-transparent, unfair, unclear, and hostile action, as presented by the spokesperson of MOL, represent information that may give false or misleading signals regarding the trading of INA shares," states Hanfa in the reasoning, which also recalls the provision of the Capital Market Act (ZTK) regarding market manipulation. Hanfa determined during the supervisory process that there are no elements indicating that INA shares are not traded fairly, orderly, and effectively on the market, in accordance with the legal requirements for trading transparency under pre-established rules that ensure equality for all market participants.

"The requirements for transparency, or the obligations to publish data on supply and demand, as well as on executed transactions, in the case of trading INA d.d. shares on December 14 and 15, 2010, are equally fulfilled as in all other cases of trading on the regulated market managed by the ZSE. Therefore, in this case, there is no question of non-transparency and ambiguity in the trading of the subject shares, which MOL, as the majority owner of INA d.d. shares and an informed investor in capital markets, should have known," emphasizes Hanfa.

Commenting on the assessments of non-transparency in trading, the public statements made through the media regarding manipulative actions, and that the Agency should annul the mentioned transactions, Hanfa states that these are also misleading signals regarding the trading of INA shares. Hanfa highlights in the reasoning that it considers the public calling out of the Agency by MOL regarding the imposition of supervisory measures as extremely inappropriate, and views it as an encroachment on the legally established autonomy and independence of the Agency in exercising its legal powers.

In light of all the above, the Agency assesses that MOL, through the media, "is making inaccurate and unverified claims that give or could give false or misleading signals regarding the trading of INA shares on the regulated market, and, given that it is an informed investor, the majority owner of INA shares, and a participant in the intended private offer to INA shareholders, should have known or could have known that the mentioned information is inaccurate and unverified." (H)