SEBI probe finds Bank of America shared insider information ahead of $180 million block deal: Report
Jan 8, 2026
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has found in an investigation that the Bank of America had improperly shared information about a block deal of stock worth $180 million, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the WSJ report cited by Reuters, BofA also misled the authorities about the matter.
In November, SEBI accused BofA of improperly sharing information related to a 2024 sale of shares in asset manager Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC.
The “show-cause notice” from the markets regulator that the bank's deal team shared price-sensitive information with employees, according to the WSJ report cited by Reuters. These employees were not connected with handling the block deal, SEBI alleged.
Livemint could not independently verify the report. This article will be updated if any of the parties share official information regarding the matter.
False statements
The Indian markets regulator also accused the bank of providing false statements to its investigators after they made inquiries about the alleged leak.
It further said that Bank of America had failed to build appropriate guardrails to protect confidential information about capital-markets transactions from leaking, the report said.
The Wall Street Journal had first in 2024 reported a whistleblower complaint alleging the leak. However, a BofA spokesperson had then told media outlets like Reuters that they found no evidence to support the claims.
Bank of America, which began operations in India in 1964, offers investment banking services to corporates with revenues above $2 billion, financial institutions, and government entities, according to its website.
Sharing non-public information ahead of an announcement can allow some investors to profit from expected price moves.
In India, this practice is not legal, as it is in several other markets.
After initially telling SEBI that its processes related to the block trade were above-board, BofA later corrected the record with the regulator following its own internal probe, WSJ reported.
It then turned over records showing people outside the deal team had communicated with investors about the deal, the report said further.
The accusations over the $180 million crore block deal led to a a string of senior resignations and scrutiny in 2024. SEBI had sought details from BofA on the matter as early as September, according to a Bloomberg report last year.
The Bank of America whistleblower alleged that merchant bankers had shared material non-public information (MNPI) with clients ahead of launching certain block deals in the market, prompting the bank to initiate its own investigation, according to the WSJ report
[Livemint]
