Indian Insurer Employee Shares Draft Earnings via WhatsApp Status

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co., a subsidiary of India’s second-largest private lender, recently faced a significant incident when an employee inadvertently shared undisclosed information regarding the company’s third-quarter earnings as a personal WhatsApp status. This occurred just days before the official announcement was scheduled.

The employee posted the sensitive information after market hours on Friday but removed the status within an hour. In response to this breach, ICICI Lombard has initiated an internal inquiry, adhering to the regulations set forth by India’s securities market regulator.

This incident marks the latest in a series of mishaps within India’s $5.2 trillion stock market. Just this week, dairy-product manufacturer Hatsun Agro Product Ltd. reported a similar situation where an employee accidentally leaked a draft of quarterly results via WhatsApp.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has progressively tightened regulations concerning the handling of unpublished information by employees. This includes mandates for companies to establish frameworks for tracking the ownership of sensitive data. Although such incidents have been relatively isolated, they raise renewed concerns about insider trading and information leaks in the world’s fifth-largest stock market.

A series of alleged leaks of company earnings on WhatsApp groups back in 2017 prompted a SEBI investigation. During that time, the market regulator instructed several companies—including HDFC Bank Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., and Axis Bank Ltd.—to conduct inquiries into the leaks of their financial information on social media platforms.

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