A company spokesperson said Volkswagen accepts the fine
By Dominic Chopping
The German financial supervisory authority fined Volkswagen 1.2 million euros ($1.3 million), saying the automaker failed to disclose potentially market-moving news in a proper and timely manner.
The regulator, known as BaFin, said Friday that Volkswagen's forecast for the 2023 financial year was significantly above market expectations, and that the German automaker should have issued an immediate, or ad hoc, announcement for financial markets regarding the business performance reflected in the forecast.
Instead, the company published this inside information in a press release, the regulator said.
BaFin said the requirement to publish such information immediately is intended to prevent insiders from gaining an advantage when trading in securities and other financial instruments due to their privileged access, while it also intends to ensure that investors aren't misled when making investment decisions.
"Failure by a company to publish inside information as soon as possible in the form of an ad hoc disclosure constitutes a breach of the Market Abuse Regulation," it said in a statement.
The fine was imposed on Oct. 1.
A Volkswagen spokesperson said the company accepts the fine, which is a result of a settlement agreement with BaFin to bring the proceedings to a close.
"BaFin takes the view that certain circumstances mentioned in the press release should have been disclosed by way of an ad hoc announcement," the spokesperson said.
"Notwithstanding the agreement reached, Volkswagen AG continues to hold the legal view that it complied with its disclosure obligations and that all market participants were adequately informed by the publication of the press release."