Information is money and listed companies and stock exchanges should disseminate market sensitive information in time to check insider trading in stocks, Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman G N Bajpai said on Thursday.

Bajpai said this at the International Organization of Securities Commissions Emerging Markets Committee Working Group4 Insider Trading seminar being hosted by Sebi from April 3-5 in Mumbai.

Delegates from 21 countries are attending the seminar and issues such as definition of insider information and insider trading, limiting the potential for insider trading, detection, investigation and prosecution of insider trading, et cetera are being discussed.

"The instinct to encash information can only be prevented by ethics," said Bajpai. Reiterating that enforcement is important and the role of corporates is to disclose information, Bajpai spoke about how insider trading wipes out the wealth of other stakeholders. Only disclosures by key persons about their interests can help to check the malpractice, he said.

Bajpai also highlighted Sebi's goal of creating informed and enlightened investors in the country. John Moon of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, USA; Miroslaw Kachniewski, Chairman Working Group4 Insider Trading; Hilton Foster, Senior Attorney, Division of Enforcement, United States Securities and Exchange Commission; and Christophe Caillot, Senior Officer, Commission Des Operations De Bourse, France, were the key speakers on Day one of the seminar.

Foster shared his experiences while dealing with offenders in US companies and also listed out methods of investigations while dealing with suspects.