The Bank of England has brought in the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) after the audio feed of its press conferences had been hacked, revealing that hedge funds potentially gained profit by hearing information ahead of their rivals. Transactions take place within seconds during high-frequency trading, thus receiving information ahead of competitors can provide traders with an essential upper-hand. The Bank installed a communications system as a back-up to its video feed, unaware that it had been abused by the third-party supplier and shared with a service for market news. According to an investigation conducted by the Times, parties who advocated the service gained a five to eight second advantage over their opposition. This type of strategy proves so advantageous that some corporations have invested in transmitter technology in order to retrieve information moments before prices fluctuate.
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