News and views

26 May, 2022

The FCA has announced their vision for possible reforms to make the listing regime more effective, easier to understand and more competitive in order to attract more high quality, growth companies and to give investors greater opportunities, with comments due by 28 July 2022.

Industry News 12 May, 2022

The Transition Plan Taskforce, established last month, has issued a call for evidence on a Sector-Neutral Framework for transition plans, which it is proposed will be required to be disclosed by listed companies (and financial institutions) from 2023.

9 May, 2022

​May 9th 2022, London, UK: The Investor Relations Society (the Society) is pleased to announce the appointment of four non-executive Directors to the Board, effective 9th June 2022:

28 April, 2022

This FRC research report indicates that too many companies are failing to treat human rights issues in their workforce or supply chain as a principal source of risk or mainstream concern for boardroom discussion, with annual reports and modern slavery statements found to be lacking the information needed for shareholders and wider stakeholders to make informed decisions. Many companies treat this reporting as more of a compliance exercise, providing limited and often superficial commentary on this key business risk.

26 April, 2022

IR Society leads the way in excellence in Investor Relations

Industry News 21 April, 2022

The FCA have finalised their rules requiring listed companies to report information and disclose against targets on the representation of women and ethnic minorities on their boards and executive management.

31 March, 2022

The ISSB has launched a consultation on its first two proposed standards to develop a global baseline of sustainability disclosures for the capital markets. One sets out general sustainability-related disclosure requirements and the other specifies climate-related disclosure requirements. Comments due by 29 July 2022.

31 March, 2022

Although the effects of Covid-19 are still being felt, the FCA considers that issuers and their advisors have now adjusted to implications arising from the pandemic and so are now able to return to previous practices and methods of publishing appropriate financial information to support investor decision-making.

Informed 31 March, 2022

The main feature of the Spring issue of Informed is titled 'IR for retail investors'. It asks whether IROs are serving small investors well. A second feature is centred around investor feedback.

24 March, 2022

The IR Society has published updated ‘best practice’ guidance to help members in response to the current uncertainty and instability arising from recent world events and the wide range of financial sanctions imposed in response.

24 March, 2022

In response to investor demand for transparency around climate-change risk, the SEC has published a draft rule entitled the “Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors”, which is open for consultation for 60 days.

3 March, 2022

In its Review Outcome paper, the UK government has set out its plans for the reform of prospectuses following its 2021 review of the prospectus regime as recommended by the Hill Review of the listing regime, which focused on ways to enhance the attractiveness of the UK capital markets and adopt a more flexible framework following Brexit.

3 March, 2022

The government has published plans to reform to the UK’s financial services regulatory framework for capital markets, with the aim of ensuring that the UK’s regulatory regime for secondary markets is fair, outcomes-based and supports competitiveness, whilst maintaining the highest regulatory standards.

10 February, 2022

The Takeover Panel is consulting on removing the restriction on a bidder purchasing target shares through an anonymous order book during an offer period.

10 February, 2022

On 3 February 2022, ESMA published a call for evidence on market characteristics for ESG rating providers to help develop a picture of the size, structure, resourcing, revenues and product offerings of the different ESG rating providers operating in the EU.

10 February, 2022

The FRC has written to the ISSB expressing strong support for the development of global standards for sustainability reporting and the UK adoption of those standards, and commenting on the Sustainability Disclosure Prototypes published by the Technical Readiness Working Group.

3 February, 2022

The European Commission has taken a major step towards including investments in gas and nuclear-based energy in the list of sustainable activities under the new EU taxonomy classification system, with the Taxonomy Complementary Climate Delegated Act proposing criteria and disclosure rules for their inclusion.

3 February, 2022

According to new PWC research, CEOs see cyber-attacks as the most serious threat to their companies over the next 12 months.

3 February, 2022

Independent research commissioned by the Financial Reporting Council builds on similar research in 2020, reinforcing the case for developing standards for Audit Committees to help promote a more consistent approach to audit quality. The research, conducted by YouGov, is based on in-depth interviews with Audit Committee Chairs (ACCs) discussing how they carry out their role.

2 February, 2022

ESMA's proposed amendments to its Suitability Guidelines provide a better idea of how it expects sustainability considerations to be built into the suitability process, ahead of sustainability preferences becoming integrated into the MiFID II suitability requirements from August 2022. The proposed amendments would increase the anticipated burden on asset managers and those providing investment advice.