On 31 August 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") published its 18th Primary Market Bulletin, which focuses on proposed new guidance for sponsors to ensure they understand their responsibilities and obligations under the listing rules, disclosure requirements and transparency rules, and that directors have established procedures to enable an issuer to comply with its obligations on an ongoing basis.
Some of the proposed changes include:
- three new technical notes that outline the FCA's expectations of sponsors and their obligations; and
- an updated technical note UKLA/TN/708.2, which sets out expectations of sponsors regarding financial position and prospects procedures.
In addition, the FCA has announced that the UKLA has been split into two separate departments: a Primary Market Oversight Department and a Listing Transactions Department, and enhancements have been made to the FCA document review process. On 4 September 2017, the FCA launched a new ESS system, which replaced faxed comments.
The bulletin can be accessed here:
https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/newsletters/primary-market-bulletin-18.pdf
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