On 6 September 2019, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its latest quarterly consultation paper (CP19/27) which proposes a number of minor changes to the FCA Handbook, including the Listing and Transparency Rules. Of particular interest to a number of listed companies will be the proposed amendments to the Transparency Rules to introduce a requirement that companies publish their annual financial reports in the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2020.
Some of the more relevant proposals are as follows:
- To update the FCA handbook so that it refers to the July 2018 edition of the UK Corporate Governance Code rather than the 2016 edition, mainly in terms of cross-references;
- To add a provision to the Transparency Rules to require issuers to publish their annual financial reports in the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2020in order to comply with the amended EU Transparency Directive;
- To make a number of minor changes to the related party transaction rules introduced in June 2019 to implement the revised EU Shareholder Rights Directive;
- To make a number of minor changes to the FCA Handbook to become effective in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit.
The consultation on the ‘no deal’ Brexit items closes on 4 October; on the other matters on 1 November. The full text of the consultation can be found here.
