ABSTRACT
Observers have for many years felt that those who are professionally close to a company have a considerable advantage in that they may use for personal benefit privileged information that they acquired through being connected with the company in whose shares they deal. Some commentators take a stricter position in holding that unprivileged information is still to be included under insider dealing or trading. As insider dealing can lead to loss of confidence in the market it can be said that the control over insider dealing is to safeguard the financial markets for company securities as opposed to protection of individual investors. This chapter highlights the controversial issue that market information may be used by insiders for personal gain at the expense of those who lack this competitive advantage. It provides a discussion on the offence of insider dealing, the use of non-public information that is known to be inside information, and how directors should behave when dealing in securities.
