The executive responsible for market abuse policy at the UK's financial watchdog has jumped ship to the Irish Stock Exchange, even as authorities in the US and Europe step up their scrutiny of volatile global markets.

Mike Duignan, who currently runs market abuse policy at the Financial Services Authority, has agreed to head up market supervision at Ireland's stock exchange. The Irish bourse recently hived off its supervisory unit from its exchange business in an effort to improve market monitoring and "strengthen the reputation of the ISE and its markets,' according to Deirdre Somers, the ISE's chief executive.