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The New York Stock Exchange is investigating suspicious trading in the US stock of ABN Amro in the days before the Dutch bank announced merger talks with Britain's Barclays.
ABN admitted that the NYSE had contacted it for information as part of its attempt to clamp down on insider trading, which it believes is on the increase.
Barclays' planned US$62.7bn takeover of ABN is the biggest in the banking industry, and dozens of financial firms on two continents have been involved as advisers, brokers or corporate financiers to the parties - or to a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which has made a US$38.31bn counterbid.
"We have received a request from the NYSE regarding transactions ahead of the announcement of our merger talks with Barclays" in March, an ABN spokesman said yesterday.
"The inquiry is being conducted as part of the NYSE's policy to investigate market activity around corporate announcements."
ABN said it was co-operating with the investigation but would not comment further.
The NYSE's in-house monitors are the latest regulators to scrutinise trading in ABN stock.
The Dutch financial watchdog AFM warned in May that all sides must make sensitive information public to avoid insider trading.
The organisation later admitted that it was examining leaks from firms involved in the bidding process.
The Financial Services Authority in the UK has also cast its eye over trading when RBS counterbid in April.
If the NYSE uncovers significant evidence of insider trading, it would pass a case over to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street's most powerful regulator.
- INDEPENDENT
