Dutch market regulator the Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) has incorrectly published the details of hundreds of previously private short-selling trades by international hedge funds, including bets against Dutch banks by George Soros.
The error means details of hedge fund short trades going back to 2012 were published on AFM’s website earlier this week before being taken down.
European market rules introduced after the financial crisis require hedge funds to report their short positions ‒ bets that a company’s shares will fall in value ‒ to regulators. But only those that are larger than 0.5 percent of a company’s outstanding shares are supposed to be made public.
The regulator instead published details of all short trades reported in the Netherlands since the new rules came into force, meaning hundreds of previously non-public trades were briefly released into the public domain.
A spokesperson for AFM admits the regulator made a mistake and moved quickly to correct it.
Hedge funds typically guard the details of their short trades. Some keep their positions just below the 0.5 percent threshold to avoid them being made public. Some fund managers do not want to tip off rival funds, while others prefer not to show their hand to the management teams of the companies they are betting against.
