From 1 January 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority is encouraging issuers to comply with new obligations when they announce regulated information.
The new rules, to be added to Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 6.2, are currently being consulted on by the Financial Conduct Authority. The new obligations are expected to come into force later in the New Year. At this point, compliance will become mandatory.
Under the proposed rules, when issuers announce regulated information, they will need to:
- supply a Legal Entity Identifier. An LEI is a 20-character reference code to identify legally distinct entities that engage in financial transactions. This means that if an issuer does not already have an LEI, it should obtain one now. This can be done via the London Stock Exchange (http://www.lseg.com/LEI); and
- classify the information according to the legal obligations under which it is disclosed, eg Article 17 Market Abuse Regulation. The classifications are set out in the Appendix. If more than one classification is relevant, all must be specified.
Click here for a more detailed briefing on the new obligations.
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