Share fraud tracker

Sunderland University researchers have created CASSANDRA, a prototype software tool designed to detect insider trading fraud within the stock exchange.

CASSANDRA (Computerised Analysis of Stocks and Shares for Novelty Detection of Radical Activities) has been designed to detect trading anomalies almost instantaneously.

The research effort has been awarded £90,000 by Northstar Funding to investigate the feasibility of combining artificial intelligence technologies with headline analysis techniques to track suspicious share dealing.

The Financial Times recently reported that as much as 25 per cent of UK share dealing may be tainted by insider trading.

A study commissioned by the New York Times suggested as many as 41 per cent of North American deals may be similarly affected.

Dale Addison, project manager for the CASSANDRA project, said the development of effective anti-fraud methods has never been more important.

‘The figures from the FT and the New York Times research are extraordinary, especially when you consider that the UK and US stock markets are among the most highly regulated in the world – so God knows what is happening in other countries,’ he said.