Wizz Air executive fined over £4m of trades in airline’s shares

A former executive at Wizz Air has been fined for secretly trading more than £4 million worth of shares in the London-listed airline in the run-up to financial results, in the first sanction of its kind by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The City regulator said that Andras Sebok, former chief supply chain officer at Wizz Air, traded company shares when he wasn’t permitted to, and failed to disclose his trades.
It fined him £123,500 after concluding that he “committed the breaches deliberately or recklessly”.
• Macquarie fined £13m over employee’s fake trades
The FTSE 250 group said in 2021 that it had sacked Sebok with immediate effect after it learnt of his dealings from the FCA. On Wednesday, the authority said that Sebok traded Wizz Air shares in the 30 days leading up to the firm’s financial results announcements, a “closed’’ period subject to trading restrictions to protect the integrity of the market.
Sebok, 52, also failed to notify the regulator and Wizz Air of his personal trades in the company’s shares within the required three business days, or at all.
He made 115 trades, including sales and purchases, in the airline’s shares in breach of market rules. These trades were worth £4.15 million and ultimately resulted in Sebok disposing of his entire holding in Wizz Air shares.
The former executive carried out the trades in his capacity as a so-called person discharging managerial responsibility, or PDMR, a term under market rules covering directors and executives with decision-making powers and who have access to inside information.
There was no evidence of insider dealing in Sebok’s case, the FCA said. However, Steve Smart, the regulator’s co-head of enforcement and market oversight, said trust and transparency were vital to “keeping our markets clean”.
Executives risk undermining their position if they trade in their company’s shares during closed periods or fail to appropriately disclose their trading in the company’s shares, the FCA said. It said it is increasing its capabilities to detect misconduct in this area.
This is the first time the FCA has fined a PDMR for trading company shares during closed periods and CMS, the law firm, said the fine was a “real warning to senior managers — trade openly or not at all.”
Sebok started working at Wizz Air in 2004 and was promoted to chief supply chain officer in 2019, giving him “regular access to confidential information containing inside information and the power to make managerial decisions affecting Wizz Air’s future development and business prospects”.
He regularly attended board meetings and had access to Wizz Air’s draft financial results announcements before they were made public. He also attended monthly financial performance briefings and his role gave him access to confidential information about a range of Wizz Air’s matters.
As a result of Sebok’s failure to notify Wizz Air of the trades, the company was unable to properly announce the transactions to the market.
Sebok’s agreement to settle the matter meant he qualified for a 30 per cent discount on his penalty of £176,400, resulting in a £123,500 fine. He could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for Wizz Air said it “maintains robust systems and controls in relation to employee share dealings, including a clear PDMR share-dealing policy, which was breached in this case. We have cooperated fully with the FCA”.