A FTSE100 Company Secretary writes...
How are you addressing the changes which the Market Abuse Regulation will bring from 3 July? Are you introducing a Disclosure Committee/Policy if you did not have one before, a confidential list as your permanent insider list will likely be reduced in size and will you still have a share dealing code even though the Model Code is to be deleted?
Are you considering introducing any insider list software as a result of the changes? Or do you currently use software and can comment on how useful and user friendly it is?
Many thanks for these helpful comments – this noticeboard is great thank you David! I have just run a practical roundtable session with EY so we could discuss the challenges and all hear what everyone else is doing and we are doing it again within the next two weeks, Please let David or Emma know if you would like to attend if they are happy to pass on my details.
Lots of good questions, best dealt with in a discussion forum was my initial thinking. That and wondering why such EU imposed regulation, replacing something good that works well with something unclear and far worse has not featured in the Brexit debate!
We have taken a proposal to an executive committee. We do not plan to introduce a Disclosure Committee. We are looking at introducing a confidential list alongside a much reduced permanent insider list. We will most certainly retain our share dealing code even though the Model Code is regrettably to be deleted completely.
We had been waiting for guidance from the FCA, but its recent Policy Statement left so many unanswered questions. So in essence the intention is to keep what we have which is a gold standard and bolt on the MAR additional requirements for PDMRs. We plan to get something in place by 3 July, even though it may well need to change thereafter.
We do not currently use software for our insider list, relying on excel. We are looking at software packages, given the more onerous requirements that are coming into place. However, this is proving difficult due to the need to satisfy data protection requirements. If we can reduce the size of our permanent insider list and make more use of confidential project lists, at least it should be easier to maintain.
We are taking a short paper to our May Board (we don’t have another until the end of July), outlining the changes and have attached a draft set of share dealing rules and a new draft disclosure policy (both standard sets prepared by our corporate lawyers) on Diligent. However, we are making it very clear that we won’t be able to finalise anything until the FCA guidelines appear. I have since heard from our brokers that this may not be until after 3 July effective date, so not sure how this will pan out. I suspect the lack of other comments on this question reflects the degree of uncertainty.