The Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") published a policy statement on the new statutory regime for Primary Information Providers ("PIPs") on 31 January 2014, following consultation. Resultant amendments to the Listing Rules and Disclosure and Transparency Rules also came into effect on this date.

PIPs were previously known as providers of Regulated Information Services ("RIS") and are the FCA-approved vehicles for issuers to disseminate regulated information to the markets in a timely and proper manner. The FCA's new statutory regime for PIPs is based largely on the existing framework for the approval and oversight of RIS as set out in the FCA's RIS Criteria.

The policy statement sets out key clarifications in response to feedback from consultation, including:

  • An issuer has the option of using an FCA-authorised PIP or an incoming European Economic Area ("EEA") information society service ("ISS"), which may or may not have been approved to disseminate information in another Member State. If an issuer chooses to use an incoming EEA ISS which has not been so approved, it will be required to provide an annual written confirmation to the FCA confirming that the information disseminated on its behalf has been done so in accordance with the Transparency Directive standards.
  • In relation to the Listing Rule requiring an annual confirmation from an issuer regarding the dissemination of regulated information, some issuers will remain outside the scope of this requirement in relation to some types of regulated information. To respect 'home state' provisions in the Transparency Directive, issuers who do not have the UK as their 'home state' will not be subject to the annual notification requirement in respect of the dissemination of any information which falls within the Transparency Directive definition of regulated information.
  • PIPs will not be required to provide the FCA with continual access to their systems.

An existing RIS that wishes to become approved as a PIP will have a six month transitional period during which it may continue to act as RIS while applying for approval. At the end of this period, an existing RIS that has not gained approval will no longer be able to disseminate regulated information in the UK on behalf of UK issuers.

The policy statement is available at:

http://www.fca.org.uk/static/documents/policy-statements/ps14-02.pdf

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