Protocols For Secure Information Management In Stock Trading Market

Trend of Information Gathering Techniques in Stock Trading

Discuss About The Protocols For Secure Information Management?

In the current business scenario, trading in the stock market is growing in a rapid pace. In addition, in the developed countries such as United States, this trend is much more and involves various large institutions having expertise in trading of different stocks. Stock trading has emerged as one of the most potential and profitable venture for enhancing the wealth for the individuals as well as for the business organizations (Chen, Choi and Hong 2013). However, with the increase in the trend of stock trading, various cases related to fraud are being originating. Fraud and scam in the stock trading involves huge amount of money and thus, the effect is more than any other form of fraud . Due to this reason, the government and the trading firm are introducing different regulations and legislations in order to reduce the chance of being mislead (Kim and Sohn 2012). Various stringent laws and legislations are being initiated by the government of different countries to initiate harsh punishment if being accused and proved.

However, in the last few years, few cases regarding to the fraud in the stock trading are being emerged. One of the prominent cases is the case of Raju Rajaratnam of Galleon group. This case involved fraud of multimillion dollar with some of the leading organizations. The case was being proved and Raju Rajaratnam is being given 11 years of imprisonment (Raghavan 2013). However, though he was imprisoned for his fraud case, there are still insider trading is happening in the stock market. Thus, the risk of being tricked by the investors is still there.

This report will discuss about aftermath of the case of Raju Rajaratnam in the stock trading market. In addition, this report will also discuss the steps to be followed by the investors in order to prevent the fraud. Moreover, the implications of sharing the confidential data will be evaluated in this report.

The case of Rajaratnam came as a huge shock for the entire stock market industry and the amount being involved in the fraud is huge which negatively affected the stock market. However, it should also be considered that the fraud being committed by Rajaratnam is not new and it will not end with him. This is due to the reason that, the stock market specialists operates in this market based on certain criterions. However, these criterions can only be accessed from having some sort of confidential data. In addition, with the increase in the trading firm in the stock market, the rate of the competition among the competing players is much more than ever (Bauwens and Giot 2013). Thus, having the access of some sort of confidential data helps them in gaining competitive advantages in the market. Therefore, though it is unethical to have the access of the confidential data, but the market scenario is influencing the trading organizations in having the access of these data.

• One of the key measures should be taken by the investors is effectively and ethically dealing the trading officials. This due to the reason that, creating impression of being interested in accessing confidential data will motivate the trading officials to get in to insider trading. Thus, from the very first stage it is recommended for the investors that they should refrain from any such activities (Coffee 2013).
• Crosschecking of the gathered information is required for the investors. They should make sure that the information being provided by the trading firm to them is being available in the public forum. This will help them to identify any fraud or insider trading in their transaction.
• It is the responsibility of the investors to adhere with the security and other rules and regulations regarding the stock trading. This is due to the reason that, there are various legislations being in the stock market, which should be known to all the related stakeholders. Moreover, adhering with the relevant legislations will help the investors in identifying any fraud in the activities of the trading firm (Cox, Hillman and Langevoort 2016). It will also prevent them from being prosecuted by the government officials due to the reason that, in case of proven fraud, investors will also be held liable for the misdeeds of their trading firm.
• Investors should always be careful about making public the confidential data that they have with regarding their past or present employer (Ogiela and Ogiela 2012). This is due to the reason that, publicizing the confidential data about the employer will also be treated as the breach in security policy.

• The government and other regulatory bodies also have the responsibilities in preventing the inside trading in the stock market. One of the key measures that being taken by the government is monitoring the trading activity in the market. Regular surveillance and effective determination of the trend analysis of the stock valuation of various companies will help to identify any huge differences in the market (Kim 2012).
• There are numerous complaints being made to the regulatory bodies by the investors having incurred huge loss in the market. These complaints can act as potential leads for the regulatory bodies to concentrate their investigation process on a particular area. In addition, this will help them in determining the unusual trading practices being involved in the market.
• Whistleblowers are one of the key sources of gaining market fraud for the regulatory bodies. This is due to the reason that, whistleblowers are the past or present employees in any organizations and thus they may have the knowledge about the fraudulent activities being involved by their employers in the market (Miceli, Near and Dworkin 2013). To motivate the whistleblowers in coming forward to disclose the fraudulent activities, incentives of 10 to 30 percent are being provided to them.

Measures to Prevent the Implication of Inside Trading

• Companies also have the responsibility of preventing the fraudulent activities in the stock trading. Thus, they also initiate various policies in order to prevent these activities (Beneish, Press and Vargus 2012). Various organizations have the blackout period for their executives to refrain them from buying the share of the company due to their access with the confidential data of the particular organization.
• In some organizations, executives are being allowed to buy their shares of their own organization. However, they are barred from having transaction at the time of earnings announcements or any type of organizational activities, which may have impact on the trading of stock (Fisher 2015).
• Various organizations employ legal officials to look after the legal affairs regarding the stock trading. This is due to the reason that, company officials will not have the clear idea about the various regulations as well as they may indulge in conflicts of interest. Thus, employment of the legal officials will help to prevent these types of activities.
• Employees are being given training about the various rules and regulations in the trading of stocks. They are being trained about the access of the confidential data and the extent to which they are allowed to publicize the information regarding their organization (Jehanzeb and Bashir 2013). In addition, they are also being trained about the possible implications or consequences that they will face in case of any misrepresentation of the confidential data.

Sharing of confidential data will have implications or consequences for the employees as well for other associated stakeholders. However, for the different stakeholders, the effect of the implications will be different. The following sections will discuss about the potential implications of sharing confidential data on different stakeholders.

• The primary effect of sharing of confidential data will be on the employees. This is due to the reason that, employees ranging from the lower level to the upper level managers will have the access of various confidential data more effectively than any other outsiders (Hannah and Robertson 2015). Thus, the chance or probability of breaching the confidentiality will be more from the side of the employees. Thus, in that case, the key implication for them will be the termination. Majority of the employee contracts have the clause for breach of confidentiality. Thus, the employee will be terminated on an immediate basis upon proven.
• Employees may face legal notices from their employer and may have to incur huge penalties if proven guilty. This is due to the reason that, in case of the breach of confidential information, the employer will probably sue the accused with legal notices (Morrow 2012). Thus, if the lawsuit is being proven and if the justice goes against the employees, then he may have to incur a huge penalty. In the case of monetary damage being served by the employer due to the reason of the breach of confidential data by the employee, the employee has to pay the price of loss as penalty. Thus, he will also face monetary consequences.
• Other than the monetary implications, employees may have to face he criminal charges due to the reason that, breaching of confidential data is similar to the theft of the intellectual property of the organization (Acemoglu and Akcigit 2012). Thus, the employee can be accused in the charge of theft. The law regarding theft and breach of confidentiality of information is different in various countries. However, criminal proceedings will be there against the employee in the case of the charge of theft. It may lead to paying a good amount of penalty as well as having sentenced imprisonment for years.
• With having served the legal lawsuits, incurring a huge monetary loss and serving imprisonment. The social reputation and goodwill of the employee will get negatively affected. Moreover, the chance for him to get selected and appointed in other organizations is much lower. This is due to the reason that the tarnished social mage of the employee will be transmitted among the majority of the organization. Thus, no other organizations will show interest in hiring him due to his past background. Hence, the future of the employee will also get negatively affected.
• If the confidential data is being leaked by the employee in the organization and if it led to huge financial fraud in the market, like the one with the galleon in the stock market, then the consequences will be more stringent for the accused. This is due to the reason that, in the case of the occurrence of financial fraud in the market because of the leakage of the confidential data, then the accused will be prosecuted by the regulatory bodies also (Abbasi et al. 2012). In that case, he will be charged with more cases against him, which may lead him to having more term of imprisonment as well as penalty.

• Investors whether intentionally or unintentionally indulged in the fraudulent activities will have to face the consequences. This is due to the reason that, it is the responsibility of the investors also to check and adhere with all the relevant legislations before being operated in the stock market (Beatty, Liao and Yu 2013). It is also being assumed that, the fraudulent activities by the trading firm are known to the investors due to the reason that it is the responsibility of the investors to check and monitor the activities of their trading firm. Thus, they also have to face the legal and criminal consequences (Pillai, Kar and Shah 2014).
• Apart from the negative implications, investors will also some sort of positive and favorable impact in the initial stage due to the sharing of the confidential data. This is due to the reason that, sharing of the confidential information will help the investors in having the knowledge of the probable change in the business scenario prior to their investment (Bhattacharya 2014). Thus, they will invest their capital accordingly. Though it is of having undue advantage but still it will give profit for the investors.
• Social risk is also applicable for the investors also in the case of revelation of the confidential data. This is due to the reason that, in the case of sharing of the confidential data and if being accused, the social risk will also be implied for the investors (Johnson and Covello 2012). In the case of the accusation, the regulatory authorities will also prosecute the investors. Thus, the social goodwill and reputation of the investor will be at stake.
• In the case of the insider trading, the investors will also find it difficult in have their trading partner in the future. This is due to the reason that, if the name of the investors gets revealed in any fraudulent activities, then no other trading partner will show interest in trading with them in fear of loss of goodwill in the market. Thus, the investors will face economical loss also in the case of sharing of confidential data.
• The regulatory authorities in the case of the accusations will take back the profit made by investors with the help of the confidential data back (Bewaji 2012). In addition, the investors will have to pay a hefty amount as penalty. Thus, it will cause a huge economical loss for them.

• In the case of using any confidential data for insider trading, the trading will be adversely affected upon revealed. Their trading license may be taken back and may be made black listed and thus, the business potential of them will come to a hold. Similar case had been happened with the Galleon. In this case, with the arrest and accusation of Rajaratnam, the trading firm of him got dissolved. Thus, the trading firm indulged in sharing of confidential information will face survival issue in the case of revelation.
• If the business of the trading firm is not being closed even after the sharing of confidential data, then also they will face survival issues in operating in the existing market (Ahmad, Bosua and Scheepers 2014). This is due to the reason that, no investors will be interested in collaborating with a trading firm, which is having background of sharing confidential data.
• In the case of sharing of confidential data, the trading firm will gain huge profits in the short term. However, in the long run, they will lose their competitive advantages in the market (Wagner III and Hollenbeck 2014). This is due to the reason that, the information that they will share with their investors will be treated or assumed as confidential data, even though it is authentic. Thus, the competitiveness and trustworthiness of the trading organization will get affected.

Sharing of confidential data will obviously effect my decision making process in trading with a particular stock. This is due to the reason that, if it is being known to me that the access of information that i have with me is private and confidential, then it will negatively motivate me in trading with the particular stock. However, it is true that in most of the cases, investors having confidential data with them will most likely to trade with that stock for gaining advantages. However, for me, the long-term situation will be more influencing factor. Thus, I have to determine the implications of insider trading in future and accordingly indulge in trading.

As discussed earlier, the investigation and conviction of Rajaratnam had given a huge blow to the existing scenario in the trading market. The rate at which the trading firms were garnered confidential data will be reduced due to this case. However, the growing competitiveness in the trading market will also reduce the influence of the rajaratnam’s case gradually. This is due to the reason that, trading firms will have to garner some sort of information that will be accessible to any other to have the competitive advantages over their competitors (Tavakoli, McMillan and McKnight 2012). In addition, the investors prior to their investment in a particular stock will obviously seek to have some sort of information, which will help them to have positive return from the market. Thus, on one hand, the trading firm will reduce their confidential data accumulation due to the secret investigation by the regulatory authorities. However, on the other hand, the expectation of the customers will act as driving force in generating and sharing confidential data.

Thus, it will be difficult to conclude that with the conviction of rajaratnam, the trend of collecting confidential information will come to end. This is due to the reason that, the more confidential data will be provided by the trading firms to their customers, the more will be their market attractiveness and competitive advantages in the market. Thus, in view of the basic marketing principles, it can be said that the case of rajaratnam will have some impact on the exiting trend of collecting confidential data, but it will not completely deter the fund managers from sharing confidential data.

Influence in Decision-Making Process

In the case of investors also, there will be very less impact of the case of rajaratnam on them due to the reason that, they also tries to gain more profit from trading. Majority of the investors in the trade market invest huge amount for stock trading and thus they are more aggressive in enhancing their profit margin. This factor acts as driving force for them to indulge in insider trading. Thus, it is impossible to stoop the trend of collecting confidential data by investors in the stock market.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that, rajaratnam had indulged in huge fraudulent activities by having collected the access of various confidential information. This report discussed about the potential implications of sharing confidential data for the employees, investors and trading firms. In addition, the driving forces for all the stakeholders in indulging in the insider trading have also been discussed. This report concludes that the conviction of rajaratnam will not have huge impact on the trading practices being followed by the investors and trading firms. Thus, the existing trading practices in the trading market will continue to prevail, until another fraud case will come to light.

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