UT (Tax & Chancery) UT-2022-000134 UT-2022-000135 UT-2022-000137 - [2025] UKUT 00214 (TCC)

One of the issues which Mr Creaturo and Mr Kasapis had been instructed to address in their expert reports was: “What impact, if any, would the trading instances identified in the Instance Pool have on the market (considered by reference to the impression and/or signal as to the supply or demand for, or price, of BTP futures that the trading instances would give or be likely to give to the market, if any)?”

The Authority’s position was that the Large Orders placed by the Traders would have been capable of giving an impression and/or signal of significant supply and demand to other market participants. They relied on Mr Creaturo’s evidence, which included that the Futures market was particularly susceptible to changes in supply and demand due to the fact it had relatively low liquidity and high volatility. The Traders relied on evidence from Mr Kasapis that the Large Orders would not impact the market based on various analyses including in relation to market liquidity and market price, as well as the size of the orders, which led him to conclude they would have had zero impact. They also relied on the SMARTS data in relation to the large orders placed by other market participants and the execution rates (and cancellation rates) of such orders.

We address here the evidence from the experts in the light of the challenges put in relation thereto which addressed both the relevant expertise and credibility of the two experts and their analysis.