Agora leads the way in dealing with insider trading

Media giant Agora has published Poland's first agreement limiting speculation by a company's management on the stock exchange. The agreement, presented on Friday, has the backing of the entire Agora management. While insider trading and crimes linked to the use of confidential information are a headache for all stock exchanges, Poland currently has no precise regulations for share transactions conducted by managers with access to confidential information. "In view of the lack of regulations, we have followed the solutions used by members of the New York and London stock exchanges," says Agora chairperson Wanda Rapaczynski. Insider trading is not commonplace in Poland. Last year in the US, 40 cases were referred to court, whereas in Poland there have only been 29 cases in the past five years. According to president of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), Wieslaw Rozlucki, "Insider trading is not the most significant problem of our market; there are far more controversial matters." (Gazeta Wyborcza, June 23-24, p. 27, Parkiet, p. 1) P.W.