On 15 November 2024, the FCA issued Primary Market Bulletin 52.

In this Primary Market Bulletin the FCA covers:

• Issuers’ ability to identify and make public information that is inside information under the UK Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). This covers 3 common scenarios where the FCA has seen differing approaches by issuers to identify when information may constitute inside information. The FCA also include steps issuers can take to make sure they are prepared to correctly identify inside information.
• The dissemination of information by issuers during shareholder calls and meetings. In particular, using communication apps to interact with groups of smaller private shareholders. The FCA reminds issuers of the application of MAR to these kinds of disseminations and set out steps issuers can take to limit the risk of unlawful disclosure of inside information or market manipulation through misleading statements.
• The dissemination of regulatory information by issuers during interruptions to Primary Information Provider (PIP) services. This follows from the FCA’s observations during the July 2024 Crowdstrike-related IT outage which affected a number of PIPs. It includes actions for issuers to consider to be prepared in the event of future PIP outages.